Premium
Clustering of acute respiratory infection hospitalizations in childcare facilities
Author(s) -
KamperJørgensen Mads,
Benn Christine Stabell,
Simonsen Jacob,
Thrane Nana,
Wohlfahrt Jan
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2010.01712.x
Subject(s) - medicine , danish , pediatrics , incidence (geometry) , respiratory infection , prospective cohort study , cohort study , girl , cohort , respiratory system , psychology , developmental psychology , philosophy , linguistics , physics , optics
Aim: To estimate how risk of acute respiratory infection (ARI) hospitalization in children attending childcare facilities with a recently (within 1 month) hospitalized child is affected by gender, age and other characteristics. Methods: Population‐based prospective cohort study of 436 434 Danish 0–5‐year‐old children attending childcare during 1989–2004. Information was collected from Danish registers. Main outcome measure was incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of in‐patient hospitalization for ARI. Results: During 1 777 999 person‐years of follow‐up 42 681 hospitalizations for ARI occurred, of which 362 (1%) occurred within 1 month after another child was hospitalized for ARI in the facility. Children attending a facility with a recent ARI hospitalization had an increased risk of 42% (95% CI 27%;60%) compared with other children. The increased risk was higher in 0–2‐year‐old children than in 3–5‐year‐old children (55% vs 17%, p = 0.02) and if the latest hospitalized child was 0–2 years rather than 3–5 years (52% vs 19%, p = 0.04). The increased risk was similar in boys and girls, but was higher if the latest hospitalized child was a boy rather than a girl (52% vs 13%, p = 0.02). Conclusion: Although occurring infrequently, clustering of ARI hospitalizations involve 0–2‐year‐olds and boys as first hospitalized child relatively more often than would be expected.