Temporal and spatial analysis of notifications of sexual violence against male children and adolescents in Brazil, 2013 to 2022: an ecological study.

Objective: To analyze the temporal trend and the spatial distribution of reported cases of sexual violence against male children and adolescents, and their relationship with municipal development in Brazil.

Methods: This is an ecological study with data from the Notifiable Health Conditions Information System and the Municipal Human Development Indexes (MHDIs), from 2013-2022. Prais-Winsten regression was used for temporal analysis and the Moran Index for spatial analysis.

Results: There were 39,967 reports of sexual violence against male children and adolescents. An increasing trend was found for Brazil as a whole (annual percentage change = 6.8; 95%CI 3.8;10.0). Spatial distribution showed direct correlation between high rates of violence and low MHDIs (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: We found a rising temporal trend in Brazil and spatial dependence of the rates of reported sexual violence in the municipalities.

Main results: The trend of reported cases of sexual violence against male children and adolescents was rising in Brazil. The spatial analysis showed a direct correlation between high rates of violence and low human development indexes.

Implications for services: The identification of underreported areas requires the structuring of health surveillance services. Territories with the highest number of reports require prevention and coping strategies to attend to these victims.

Perspectives: Strategies for prevention, coping and improvement of the surveillance process must be adopted. These include: reception, psychosocial support, comprehensive health care and training of health professionals to notify and report the problem.