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Child care and children's illness.

A S Johansen¹, A Leibowitz, L J Waite

¹Department of Economics and Statistics, Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90406-2138.

American Journal of Public Health

|September 1, 1988

Summary

Children in group child care settings, such as day care centers, experience more sick days per year compared to those cared for at home. This finding holds true across different age groups, highlighting potential health implications of group care environments.

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Area of Science:

Pediatric Health
Child Care Epidemiology
Public Health

Background:

Child care settings are common for young children.
The impact of group care on child illness rates requires further investigation.
Understanding illness patterns in group care is crucial for public health strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

To test the hypothesis that larger group sizes in child care correlate with increased annual bed days due to illness.
To compare illness rates among children in day care centers, family day care, and home-based care.

Main Methods:

Utilized nationally representative data from the 1981 National Health Interview Survey's Child Health Supplement.
Estimated a statistical model for annual bed days among children aged six months to five years.
Controlled for confounding factors to isolate the effect of child care setting.

Main Results:

Children in day care centers had significantly more annual bed days than those cared for at home, across both age cohorts.
Children in family day care also experienced more bed days than home-cared children, particularly in the younger age group.
The relative increase in bed days due to group care ranged from 19% to 30%, with an absolute increase of 0.6 to 1.3 days annually.

Conclusions:

Group child care, especially centers, is associated with a higher incidence of childhood illness leading to missed days.
While the relative increase in sick days is notable, the absolute increase in bed days per year is modest.
Findings suggest a need for enhanced health and hygiene protocols in group child care settings.

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