Somatic factors at 8 years of age in children with recurrent use of antibiotics in early infancy.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the influence of recurrent therapy with antibiotics (RTA) in infancy on children's somatic factors at 8 y of age.


METHODS
Subject selection was based on stratified randomized cluster sampling. Altogether 1287 infants were potential participants in the follow-up study. Children with 6 courses of antibiotics (100 children) during their first 18 mo of life and children with no (62%) or 2 courses (38%) of antibiotics participated in a clinical examination in a case-control setting (100 matched controls) at the age of 8 y.


RESULTS
The children with RTA continued to have more infections and had had more courses of antibiotics compared to controls during the follow-up. There was no clinically significant difference in the somatic and dental status at the age of 8 between the two groups. The parents of the children with RTA reported significantly more often recurrent infections than the parents of the controls.


CONCLUSIONS
The children with recurrent therapy with antibiotics in early childhood also continue to be prescribed more antibiotics in later childhood when compared to those who received no or few antibiotics in infancy. However, recurrent infections and medications do not seem to have a marked effect on the somatic and dental status of these children at 8 y of age.
Louhi-Pirkanniemi
Katri
K
Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Lemminkäisenkatu 1, FIN-200 14 Turku, Finland. katlou@netti.fi
Rautava
Päivi
P
Aromaa
Minna
M
Sahlberg
Anna
A
Mertsola
Jussi
J
Helenius
Hans
H
Sillanpää
Matti
M
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003817:Dentition; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents