title: Lower respiratory tract illness in Polynesian infants.
abstract: A follow-up at five months of 269 Polynesian infants born at Hutt Hospital over a nine month period showed an incidence of lower respiratory symptoms of 42 percent. Nineteen percent of the infants had recurrent or prolonged symptoms. These infants more frequently had a family history of asthma or bronchitis in first degree relatives, had a greater incidence of damp housing and were often of lower socio-economic status. There was a lower rate of breast feeding in the symptomatic groups suggesting that breast milk has a role in preventing the syndrome of recurrent respiratory illness in Polynesian infants.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D001942:Breast Feeding; D001991:Bronchitis / Q000453:epidemiology; D003371:Cough / Q000453:epidemiology; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand; D011114:Polynesia / Q000208:ethnology; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors