The use of primary/national school absenteeism as a proxy retrospective child health status measure in an environmental pollution investigation.
As a result of community concerns over animal and human ill health centred around a rural town in the Republic of Ireland, a series of epidemiological studies were conducted. The absence of adequate health-information systems forced researchers to investigate alternative methods of assessing child health in the 'at-risk' area. This study aimed to examine annual primary/national school attendance data over a 10 year period as a proxy health status measure. Data from six geographical areas were analysed; one of these six areas was designated the 'high-risk' area on the basis of reports of animal ill health. Significantly higher absenteeism rates were noted in the 'high-risk' area in nine of the 10 years examined. Although caution is urged in the interpretation of these results, this study demonstrates that primary/national school absenteeism data can act as a useful, albeit crude, proxy measure of health status.
Houghton
F
F
Department of Public Health, Mid-Western Health Board, 31-33 Catherine Street, Limerick, Ireland. fhoughton@mwhb.ie
Gleeson
M
M
Kelleher
K
K
D000041:Absenteeism; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D011634:Public Health; D040442:Public Health Informatics; D012107:Research Design; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012574:Schools