Introduction:

Adolescence occurs with physiological, psychological and social changes that can impact the different facets of adolescents; therefore, timely interventions will be decisive in marking their future. The objective was to determine the prevalence of diseases according to sex in Peruvian adolescents.

Material and methods:

Observational, analytical, retrospective study. 37,398 adolescents were treated in 24 departments and Metropolitan Lima, with diseases of various kinds, according to data published by the Ministry of Health of Peru on its website. Absolute and relative frequencies were used to generate results; in the comparison of frequencies by sex, the chi square of homogeneity was used with a significant p-value of p < 0,05 and 95% confidence.

Results:

The most prevalent infectious and non-infectious diseases in adolescents were intestinal parasitosis (57,4%), iron deficiency anemia (26,0%), and complicated acute respiratory infections (11,0%). According to sex, intestinal parasitosis is more prevalent in men (60.2%), iron deficiency anemia in women (30,6%) and complicated acute respiratory infections in men (13,0%), for skin and bone diseases, acne (3,5%), kyphosis (1,1%) and scoliosis (0,4%) were more prevalent in men.

Discussion:

The most prevalent infectious disease in Peruvian adolescents was intestinal parasitosis, and the non-infectious disease was iron deficiency anemia. There are also statistically significant differences by sex in the prevalence of intestinal parasitosis, iron deficiency anemia, complicated acute respiratory infections, acne, kyphosis, and scoliosis. Professional and appropriate treatment in each case will promote the proper development of adolescents.