Introduction:

It is important to apply an approach from indigenous peoples in health information systems since they constitute a priority group due to their situation of vulnerability.

Objective:

To describe sociodemographic and epidemiological aspects of COVID-19 in indigenous populations aged 0-19 years in Paraguay, 2020 to 2021.

Material and Methods: Descriptive, retrospective cross-sectional study. Cases with a positive result for SARS-COV-2 from 0 to 19 years of age in the indigenous population, from the notification base of the General Directorate of Health Surveillance, were included. The variables analyzed were: sex, age groups, origin, deceased, using descriptive statistics.

Results:

During the study period, 468,535 positive cases for SARS-COV-2 were confirmed in Paraguay, of which 39,319 (8.4%) were from the 0-19-year-old group. Of these, 52% were female, 8% under 5 years of age, 59% aged 15-19 years, 61% from Asunción and Central, 54 (0.01%) in the age group 0 to 19 years of age died. In the indigenous population, 619 cases were confirmed, being the group 0-19 years old, 88 (14%), female 69%, under 5 years old 24%, and 48% from 15 to 19 years old, origin Boquerón 28% and Alto Paraná 26%, 6 (7%) died, four of them under 5 years of age. Making an association between the characteristics of the general population and the indigenous population, a significant difference was observed between all ages and the pediatric group (OR: 1.81[CI95%=1.4 - 2.3]; p<0. 0002), in terms of female sex (OR: 2.09[CI95% =1.3 - 2.3]; p<0.001) and among the deceased (OR: 53.20[CI95% =22.2 - 127 .1], p<0.0001).

Conclusions:

Most of the Boquerón, Alto Paraná, Central and Canindeyú cases. The most affected group was 15 to 19 years old. In terms of lethality, it is higher in the indigenous pediatric population than in the general population.

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