History of respiratory infections in the first 12 yr among children from a birth cohort

Abstract

Respiratory infections are the most frequent health problem in childhood. There is little precise information on how many respiratory illness episodes can be expected in a normal child. This study was designed to create reference values for the frequency of respiratory infections as recordable by history. Respiratory illnesses were recorded in a prospective birth cohort of 1314 German children born in 1990 and tracked until age 12 yr (760 children). Parents recorded the child's illnesses in a diary and answered structured questions yearly up to age 12. Age of study subjects was categorized into infancy (0-2 yr), pre-school age (3-5 yr), and school age (6-12 yr). The mean cumulative number of respiratory infection episodes up to age 12 yr was 21.9 (s.d. 9.0) episodes. In infancy, the mean annual number was 3.4 (3.7) episodes; at pre-school age, 2.3 (2.6) episodes; and at school, age 1.1 (1.2) episodes. The mean cumulative time of episodes up to age 7 yr was 20.1 (15.2) wk. Forty-five percent of the infants in the upper episode incidence tertile continued to be in the upper tertile at school age. Based on a twofold standard deviation of the mean number, up to 11 respiratory infection episodes per year in infancy, 8 episodes per year at pre-school age, and 4 episodes per year at school age could be regarded as normal. Episodes within these reference values per se should not cause unwarranted concern or intervention because of suspected immunodeficiency.

Respiratory Tract Illnesses During the First Year of Life: Effect of Dog and Cat Contacts

“…28 Our current results also support indirectly those of Grüber et al, 19 who found that having a dog at home during the first 2 years of life decreased the number of common cold episodes among 0-to 2-yearolds. We showed that children who had dog contacts at home had less otitis and rhinitis and more healthy weeks than children without dog contacts at home, but having a dog at home during the first postnatal year had no significant role in the occurrence of wheezing and cough, which is in line with earlier results, 29 even though the reason for these findings is obscure.…”

“…Earlier reports on the role of animal contacts on the prevalence of respiratory tract infections are sparse. Some previous studies have shown that dog contacts, 19,20 although not cat contacts, 15 seem to decrease the number of common cold episodes during childhood. However, pet ownership has also been considered a possible risk factor for frequent childhood respiratory tract infections in some reports.…”

Paediatric rhinitis: position paper of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

“…Children can typically have up to 11 upper respiratory tract infection episodes per year in infancy, eight episodes at preschool age and four at school age (26), and 0.2-2% of these develop into clinically important bacterial sinus infection (27). A chronic mucopurulent discharge suggests a rhinosinusitis of infective origin (28) (C).…”

Parents’ Expectations and Experiences of Antibiotics for Acute Respiratory Infections in Primary Care

“…C hildren experience 4 to 12 acute respiratory infections annually, 1 and primary care clinicians too often prescribe antibiotics [2][3][4] despite strong evidence that they typically provide only marginal benefits. [5][6][7][8] Common harms and the contribution to antibiotic resistance, 9 now a global public health crisis, 10,11 are rarely addressed.…”