OBJECTIVES: Hospitalism is understood as a set of physical and psychological alterations in children as a result of prolonged hospitalization. This study analyzed the factors that predispose to hospitalism in early childhood nationally and internationally based on a literature search.

METHODS: A review of articles was carried out in the following databases: CINAHL, Scielo, PubMed, LILACS, and Google Scholar, through the following filters: publications with abstract and full text, from 1990 to 2018, in English and Spanish, using the descriptors with Boolean operators AND, OR. A total of 506,841 articles were found, of which 42 were selected for quality analysis on 50% of the check-up guidelines.

RESULTS: It’s evidenced through the bibliographic search 7 categories of macro factors that predispose to hospitalism in early childhood, which are: the hospital environment; pain; separation of the close circle; personal factors; separation of the binomial (mother-child); time; frequency and previous experiences and anxiety of the parents. They identified 58 microfactors, which aren’t mutually exclusive.

CONCLUSIONS: it’s necessary for the nursing professional to be aware of the existence of the syndrome and the factors that predispose it, to provide quality health care to pediatric patients. An integrated and multidisciplinary work must be carried out, led by the hospital management and the health team to reduce its impact.