[The epidemiology of hospital admissions due to leishmaniasis in Spain (1999-2003)].

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiology of patients hospitalized for leishmaniasis during the period 1999 to 2003.

Patients And Methods: This is a retrospective study using the Minimum Data Set for Hospital Discharge (CMBD, Conjunto Mínimo Básico de Datos al alta hospitalaria), a national surveillance system database.

Results: There were 1,180 hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of leishmaniasis, 34% of which were readmissions, yielding a total of 786 new cases of leishmaniasis and an incidence rate of 0.4 per 100,000 population/year. The disease mainly affected children under five years of age and adults between 25 and 44. The most frequent form of presentation was visceral leishmaniasis, which was documented in 83.6% of hospitalizations. Among the autonomous communities of Spain, Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha showed the highest incidence rates, whereas Galicia and Extremadura presented the lowest rates. Patients coinfected with HIV accounted for 42% of hospital admissions for leishmaniasis. Nonetheless, between 2000 and 2003, a decrease was observed in the number of hospitalizations in this subgroup and an increase of patients without HIV coinfection.

Conclusion: The increase in hospitalization rates for leishmaniasis in Spain indicates that this avoidable zoonosis remains a considerable public health problem in our country.