Introduction:

Acute respiratory infections are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Timor Leste and the world.

Objective:

To describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with acute respiratory infections in Timor Leste.

Methods:

A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out at Guido Valadares National Hospital in Timor Leste from January to April 2021. The study population was made up of all the patients treated due to this cause in the aforementioned period and place. The sample consisted of 108 patients treated for this condition in otorhinolaryngology, internal medicine and hospital emergency services during the period studied. Primary data was collected from medical records using a data collection form. The analysis of the information included the distribution of absolute and relative frequencies of all the variables studied.

Results:

The female sex prevailed in 51.9% and the age group from 19 to 29 years in 38.0%. The most affected were students in 36.1% and housewives in 27.8%. The most diagnosed infections were pneumonia and otitis in 32.4% and 18.5% respectively. The most reported clinical manifestation was cough (23.7%).

Conclusions:

The disease mainly affected students and housewives, both young, regardless of their educational level and sex, in whom pneumonia was the most diagnosed respiratory infection, without atypical symptoms and signs.

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