Group Day Care and the Risk of Serious Infectious Illnesses

• Published in: American journal of epidemiology 1991-01, Vol.133 (2), p.154-163
• Main Authors: Berg, Anne T., Shapiro, Eugene D., Capobianco, Lisa A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Day Care Centers - statistics & numerical data; Child, Preschool; Communicable Diseases - epidemiology; Communicable Diseases - etiology; day care; Epidemiology. Vaccinations; Female; General aspects; Haemophilus influenzae; Humans; infection; Infectious diseases; Male; Medical sciences; Odds Ratio; Prospective Studies; Risk Factors; tobacco smoke pollution
• ISSN: 0002-9262; 1476-6256
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115854

Group day care attendance has been associated with an increased risk of infectious illnesses. With the exception of illnesses caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b (H. influenzae) and Neisseria Meningitidis (N. meningftidis), most studies have examined relatively mild illnesses. A matched case-control study was conducted to study the association between group day care attendance and serious infectious illnesses (requiring hospitalization). Cases were children aged 3 months to 59 months hospitalized for an infectious illness at Yale-New Haven Hospital from June 1984 through November 1986. Each case was matched to a control by date of birth and regular pediatrician, and their parents were interviewed. Data from 193 matched pairs were anatyzed using conditional logistic regression. The matched odds ratio (OR) for the association between group day care attendance and serious infectious illness was 1.39 (95% confidence interval (Cl) 0.87–2.20). For pairs in which the case had an H. influenzae infection (n = 46), the odds ratio was 8.00 (95% Cl 1.00–63,85), and for N. meningitidls (n = 9) the odds ratio was 2.00 (95% Cl 0.39–10.27). In the remaining 138 pairs, the odds ratio was 1.27(95% Cl 0.76–2.12). In infants