Risk factors for hospitalization and infection in Canadian Inuit infants over the first year of life--a pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
Inuit infants experience higher mortality and poorer health than other Canadian infants, and suffer disproportionately from bacterial and viral infections. A wide range of inter-related factors affect their health and susceptibility to infection. The objective of the study was to describe hospitalization and morbidity patterns in a cohort of 46 healthy Inuit infants from Iqaluit, Nunavut, over their first year of life.


METHODS
Risk factors for hospitalization and infections were assessed using multiple linear regression.


RESULTS
Infants experienced an average of four respiratory tract infections (RTIs) annually, which accounted for half of the hospitalizations in the cohort. Some interesting trends were evident from the assessment of risk factors using multiple linear regression. Adoption was associated with adverse health effects in addition to those that would be expected due to lack of breast-freeding alone; among infants who were not breast-fed, adopted infants had three more RTIs per year than non-adopted infants.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this pilot study provide support for undertaking larger epidemiological studies in order to clarify the role of these risk factors, so that future preventive efforts can be informed and effective.
Jenkins
Alison L
AL
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec.
Gyorkos
Theresa W
TW
Joseph
Lawrence
L
Culman
Kate N
KN
Ward
Brian J
BJ
Pekeles
Gary S
GS
Mills
Elaine L
EL
D000300:Adoption; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D004930:Inuit; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D012307:Risk Factors