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Published on: August 7, 2017

Day care in relation to respiratory-tract and gastrointestinal infections in a German birth cohort study

Anne Zutavern1, Peter Rzehak, Inken Brockow

  • 1GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health, Institute of Epidemiology, Neuherberg, Germany.

Acta Paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992)
|August 2, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Children in day care centers face higher risks of infections like colds and diarrhea in early years. However, this risk diminishes and can even reverse by school age, indicating developmental resilience.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Epidemiology
  • Child Development

Background:

  • Day care attendance patterns differ between former East and West Germany, persisting post-reunification.
  • Early childhood infections are a significant concern for public health and parental well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To describe current day care attendance in Germany.
  • To longitudinally assess the risk of common infections in children attending day care.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal cohort study using questionnaire data from ages 6 months to 6 years.
  • Generalized estimating equations (GEE) applied to analyze infection risks (common cold, bronchitis, pneumonia, otitis media, diarrhea) in relation to day care attendance.

Main Results:

  • Higher day care attendance observed in former East Germany compared to former West Germany.
  • Children in day care showed increased risk for respiratory and gastrointestinal infections in the first 2-3 years of life.
  • Infection risks were not statistically significant and sometimes reversed by age 4, except for the common cold.

Conclusions:

  • Day care attendance is associated with a transiently increased risk of infections in early childhood.
  • These infection risks diminish and may even reverse as children approach school age.
Abstract

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