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Published on: February 14, 2019

Day care center characteristics and children's respiratory health

P Nafstad1, J J K Jaakkola, A Skrondal

  • 1Department of General Practice and Community Medicine, The Medical Faculty, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. per.nafstad@samfunnsmed.uio.no

Indoor Air
|March 2, 2005
PubMed

Insights

This study found no link between day care center dampness and respiratory issues in young children. Further research is needed to understand potential health effects and improve exposure assessment methods.

Area of Science:

  • Environmental Health
  • Pediatric Health
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Day care centers are environments where children can be exposed to potential health hazards.
  • Building characteristics, such as dampness, may influence children's respiratory health.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between dampness problems and building characteristics in day care centers and respiratory health outcomes in 3-5-year-old children.
  • To assess the impact of ventilation types in day care centers on children's respiratory health.

Main Methods:

  • A survey of 942 children aged 3-5 in Oslo, Norway, was linked with inspection data from 175 day care centers.
  • Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine relationships between building exposures and respiratory symptoms/diseases.

Main Results:

  • Dampness problems were present in 51% of the day care centers.
  • No systematic association was found between dampness or ventilation type and specific respiratory symptoms or diseases.
  • No clear effect of studied day care center exposures on children's respiratory health was identified.

Conclusions:

  • Simple indicators of exposure, like dampness and ventilation, were not associated with respiratory health in young children attending Norwegian day care centers.
  • The study highlights methodological challenges in assessing exposure and health outcomes for day care environments.
  • Negative health effects of day care center exposures cannot be ruled out, necessitating further investigation with refined methodologies.
Abstract

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