Risk Factors and Viruses Associated With Hospitalization Due to Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in Canadian Inuit Children

Abstract

Smoking during pregnancy, place of residence, Inuit race, lack of breast-feeding, and overcrowding were all independently associated with increased risk of hospital admission for LRTI among Inuit children less than 2 years of age. Future research on the role of adoption and genetics on the health of Inuit children are required.

Invasive bacterial diseases in Northern Canada, 2006–2013

“…However, it is still a concern in Northern Canada with a substantially higher rate among Indigenous infants. Some studies suggested that poor health, environmental and housing conditions of Indigenous children may be potential risk factors (28)(29)(30)(31). Hia has been a predominant serotype in Northern Canada since the beginning of ICS (5,22,32), whereas non-typaeble Hi and type f are more common in other circumpolar regions (32).…”

2012/13 influenza vaccine effectiveness against hospitalised influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2) and B: estimates from a European network of hospitals

“…[121] Etiologic studies of pediatric hospitalizations for acute lower respiratory tract infections have identified influenza to be associated with 2-23% of admissions, with most large studies identifying influenza virus in 5-10% of hospitalized children in both developed and developing countries. [122][123][124][125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140] Rates of influenza-associated hospitalizations are primarily available from developed countries, where approximately 1-3 hospitalizations per 1000 child-years have been observed. [113,114,117,[141][142][143][144][145] Influenza-associated hospitalization rates are higher among children with cardiac and pulmonary conditions than among healthy children.…”

Full Issue

“…In Nunavut, suicide rates are 11 times higher and TB incidence is 62 times greater than the Canadian average, with 100 new active cases of TB documented in 2010 (Health Canada, 2006;MacDonald, Hébert, & Stanbrook, 2011). Lower respiratory tract infections have been found to be the leading cause for the medical evacuation and hospitalization of Inuit children: rates are as high as 48.4% among infants under the age of 6 months (Banerji, 2009). Poor ventilation in overcrowded housing is a primary cause of these illnesses, with about four in 10 Inuit living in overcrowded housing-13 times more than the Canadian average (Tester, 2006).…”