Children at daycare centres more prone to infections

ISLAMABAD—Young children who attend group childcare centres, especially those without siblings, are at increased risk for catching respiratory infections as compared to their counterparts who are cared at home. Researchers from Copenhagen analysed 135,000 children, andfound that the increased risk is most pronounced in children 0 to 2 years of age and is greatest soon after they begin daycare, Health News reported.
It is surprising that only the first year after enrollment into childcare is associated with increased risk of acute respiratory infection. Thereafter, it decreases and after 1 year in childcare the risk is equal to that of children being taken care of at home. The researchers used Danish national registries to gauge the impact of childcare attendance on acute respiratory infections in all Danish children aged 0 to 5 years in the period from 1989 to 2004.
They report that 138,821 children were hospitalised for anacute respiratory infection during the study period. In children younger than 1 year of age, the first 6 months ofdaycare attendance were associated with a 69-percent higher incidence of hospital admission for acute respiratory infection compared with children in home care. For children aged 1, 2, and 3 years or older, the first half- year in daycare was associated with a 47-percent, 41-percent, and 8-percent higher incidence of hospitalizations, respectively.

—Agencies