Premium
Overnight deep body temperature and urinary cortisol excretion in infants from economically deprived areas
Author(s) -
Wailoo M. P.,
Westaway J. A.,
Joseph D.,
Petersen S. A.,
Davies T.,
Thompson J. R.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2214.2003.00367.x
Subject(s) - excretion , urinary system , endocrinology , medicine , physiology , zoology , biology
Objectives To assess the pattern of postnatal physiological maturation in economically deprived infants by measuring the age‐related changes in deep body temperature during night‐time sleep. Setting Inner city Leicester, UK. Participants Forty‐eight infants aged 6–21 weeks from economically deprived areas and 87 control infants from more affluent areas. Outcome measures Average deep body temperature between 2 and 4 h after bedtime, overnight and early morning urinary cortisol excretion. Results Both groups showed a decline in overnight deep body temperature with age that averaged 0.030°C per week (SE = 0.003). Over the age range studied, the average age‐adjusted overnight temperature in the infants from deprived homes was 0.090°C (SE = 0.028) higher than that for the affluent group ( P = 0.001). Deprived infants had on average 51% higher overnight urinary cortisol and 80% higher morning cortisol. The differences remained when the effects of room temperature, clothing, smoking, birthweight and gestational age were taken into account. Conclusion These indicators of postnatal physiological maturation suggest that infants from economically deprived homes mature less quickly. This might increase their vulnerability to illness.