Duration of day-care attendance and acute respiratory infection

Abstract

Day-care attendance accounts for an increased frequency of acute respiratory infections (ARI), in numbers of both episodes and hospitalizations. In addition to day-care exposure, risk factors include age, siblings, and crowding. The purpose of this study was to investigate a possible association between duration of day-care exposure and ARI. A cross-sectional study was carried out to compared ARI rates for children exposed to day care and children cared for at home. Children with at least one parent working in a hospital were sampled from the hospital-run day-care center and those cared for at home. An acute respiratory infection was defined as the presence of two or more signs or symptoms in the previous two weeks. Children exposed to the day-care center for 12 to 50 hours a week had a three to five times greater risk of developing ARI than those staying at home. This risk was assessed independently, taking socioeconomic status, age, and number of siblings into account. Risk of respiratory illness and day-care attendance has been described elsewhere, but this study presents original findings related to duration of exposure. With a view towards reducing risk of ARI, improvements should be made in institutional day-care centers in Brazil, where family day care is still not available.

Doenças respiratórias agudas em serviços de saúde entre 1996 e 2001, Fortaleza, CE

“…4 Adults presented from one to three episodes of ARD, 1 per year which provokes much work abstention and individual, enterprise and state national financial loss. 9 Unfortunately, particularly among children, ARDs are considered "normal", by the population as well as by the majority of health professionals.…”

“…4 Therefore, it may occur in the nose, ears, pharynges, trachea, bronchi and lungs. 8 Classification in pneumonia and non pneumonia was made according to the diagnosis registered in the report made by the physician who attended the case.…”

Acesso à creche e estado nutricional das crianças brasileiras: diferenças regionais, por faixa etária e classe de renda

“…Recentemente, tem sido observado o interesse de diversos autores (Fonseca et al, 1996;Fuchs et al, 1996;Silva, 1996;Silva & Sturion, 1998) em avaliar o impacto da freqüência à creche sobre o estado nutricional das crianças. Silva (1996) analisando dados relativos a crianças da faixa etária de 6 a 16 anos constatou a influência benéfica da freqüência a creche, nos primeiros anos de vida, no estado nutricional (efeito tardio) do grupamento de escolares observados, pertencentes as famílias de menor renda domiciliar per capita.…”

Critical analysis of investigation of respiratory infectious disease in children attending daycare centers

“…Primeiramente, afirma-se 11,14 que o trato respiratório é o local mais comum de infecção, em crianças que freqüentam creche (89% dos episódios). Além disso, que a gravidade, assim como a duração dos episódios de adoecimento, é maior, requerendo mais hospitalizações 15,16 .…”