Risk factors associated with upper acute respiratory infections in children under five years age

Abstract

Introduction: upper acute respiratory infections constitute a complex group of diseases caused by various causal agents, which affect any point of the respiratory tract. The risk factors that favor its appearance are diverse.

Objective: to determine the association between some risk factors and upper acute respiratory infections in children under five years of age.

Methods: an analytical observational investigation of cases and controls was carried out in children belonging to two offices of the “José Martí” Polyclinic, of the Santiago de Cuba municipality in the period between January and December 2017. Two controls were chosen for each case. The group of cases was formed by the 20 minors who had a history of suffering from the disease, and the control group by 40 who had not suffered from it. The ethical principles of the research were met.

Results: 85,00 % of children under two years of age had already become ill. The significant association with upper acute respiratory infections was evidenced in the children of mothers with a low level of education (OR: 4.6), in the unfavorable birth history (OR: 7.07), the short duration of breastfeeding ( OR: 5.16), exposure to tobacco smoke (OR: 4.89) and inadequate housing conditions (OR: 9.3).

Conclusions: the causal association between risk factors and upper acute respiratory infections was demonstrated in the children under five years of age studied.