Maternal weight and infections in early childhood: a cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine this association between maternal weight during pregnancy and the incidence of hospitalisations for infectious diseases during early childhood. DESIGN: A population-based cohort study. SETTING: A national cohort was created by combining data from the Swedish Medical Birth Register, the National Inpatient Register, the Cause of Death Register, the Total Population Register and the Longitudinal integration database for health insurance and labour market studies. PATIENTS: 693 007 children born in Sweden between 1998 and 2006. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of hospitalisations for infectious diseases during the first 5 years of life, overall and for categories of infectious diseases (lower respiratory, enteric, upper respiratory, genitourinary, perinatal, skin and soft tissue, neurological and eye, digestive tract, bloodstream and other infections). RESULTS: Overweight (body mass index (BMI) 25.0-29.9) and obesity (BMI≥30) during pregnancy were associated with a higher overall incidence of hospitalisations for infectious diseases, adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) 1.05 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.06) and adjusted IRR 1.18 (95% CI 1.16 to 1.21). Overweight and obesity during pregnancy were strongly associated with perinatal infections, adjusted IRR 1.34 (95% CI 1.25 to 1.44) and adjusted IRR 1.72 (95% CI 1.57 to 1.88). In contrast, we found no association between maternal weight during pregnancy and infections of skin and soft tissue, the nervous system, the digestive tract or the bloodstream. CONCLUSIONS: We observed an association between overweight and obesity during pregnancy, and hospitalisations for infectious diseases during early childhood

Development, implementation and early results of a 12-week web-based intervention targeting 51 children age 5-13 years and their families.

BACKGROUND: Internet-based treatments have proven effective for various health issues. There is a need to scale up interventions targeting children with obesity, also in less densely populated areas where the prevalence in many countries is higher than in urban areas. The aim of this study was to design and implement an internet-based program as an add-on to standard treatment for childhood obesity. METHODS: Web-Childhood Obesity Prevention (Web-COP) was a prospective feasibility study with a pre- post- design. The intervention consisted of four group-based education sessions at the clinic, physical activity on prescription, and a new 12-week internet-based program. Web-COP was offered to children with obesity (International Obesity Task Force Body Mass Index (IOTF-BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2) and their parents in two counties in Northern Sweden from August 2018 to June 2019. The primary outcome was change in BMI standard deviation score (BMI-SDS). RESULTS: The study included 55 children 5-13 years of age. The internet-based component was well received, and retention rate was 51/55 (92.7%). Data was analysed for 51 children. Mean BMI-SDS was 3.3 at start and decreased by 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 at two, four, and six months from baseline. Using a continuous algorithm, 42/51 (81%), children lowered their BMI-SDS and 33/51 (65%) lowered their BMI. CONCLUSION: Adding group sessions and an internet-based program to standard care was feasible and two thirds of included children with obesity reduced their BMI

Pertussis in infants in Nordic countries

Aim: A life-course immunisation approach is required to prevent and control pertussis. We aimed at reviewing pertussis incidence among infants in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and at putting these data in the context of national surveillance systems and vaccination schedules.Methods: We collected 2014-2018 data on pertussis incidence, on pertussis vaccination schedules and on coverage of the third dose of the diphtheria toxoid, tetanus toxoid and acellular pertussis vaccine from publicly available sources. We gathered opinions on national surveillance systems from public health and paediatrics experts of the relevant countries.Results: The pertussis vaccination schedules and coverage in infancy were similar across countries. All countries except Denmark recommended an additional booster vaccine dose for adolescents. None of the countries had maternal immunisation recommendation. Mean pertussis incidence in Denmark, Sweden and Finland was 168, 76 and 35 per 100,000 infant-years, respectively. Data were insufficient to derive a mean incidence in Norway. There were no systematic differences in the national surveillance systems across the countries.Conclusion: The higher mean pertussis incidence in Denmark may be explained by the lack of recommendations for adolescent pertussis booster vaccination. Further investigations are warranted.</div

Predictive scores failing at identifying psychiatric disabilities following childhood bacterial meningitis calls for revision of current follow-up guidelines

Backgrounds: Psychiatric disabilities affect one in three survivors of bacterial meningitis. Since current guidelines do not recommend psychiatric follow-up in all children, disabilities are often detected late. Identifying children with elevated risk of psychiatric disabilities using predictive scores could be one strategy for detecting psychiatric disabilities without having to conduct psychiatric evaluations in all children. Therefore, we searched for existing predictive scores and later tested five predictive scores’ ability to predict psychiatric disabilities following childhood bacterial meningitis. Methods: From an existing dataset, we selected 73 children with bacterial meningitis of whom 22 later developed psychiatric disease and 15 experienced concentration or learning difficulties. Using these, we tested each predictive score’s sensitivity at their cut-off level for predicting psychiatric disease and concentration or learning difficulties using a chi-square test. Furthermore, we performed a receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis to assert the area under the curve (AUC) as a measure of overall predictive performance. Results: The sensitivity of each predictive score’ ranged from 6 to 38% for psychiatric disease and from 8 to 57% for concentration or learning difficulties. In the ROC-analysis, the AUC was 0.59–0.73 and 0.53–0.72, respectively. Conclusions: All predictive score failed at identifying children later developing psychiatric disabilities, excluding this as a feasible strategy for detecting psychiatric disabilities. Hence, current guidelines for bacterial meningitis need to be revised to recommend psychiatric evaluations in all children. KEY NOTES Current guidelines not recommending psychiatric evaluations in all children following bacterial meningitis may result in late detection of psychiatric disabilities. We tested predictive scores’ ability to identify children later developing psychiatric disabilities following bacterial meningitis. All predictive score failed at identifying children later developing psychiatric disabilities, excluding this as a feasible strategy. Hence, current guidelines for bacterial meningitis need to be revised to recommend psychiatric evaluations in all children

Comparing Health Outcomes and Costs of General Vaccination with Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines in Sweden: A Markov Model

Background: Two new pneumococcal conjugate vaccines were licensed to immunize infants and young children against pneumococcal disease. Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the expected health benefits, costs, and incremental cost-effectiveness of routine vaccination with the 10-valent pneumococcal nontypeable hemophilus influenza protein-D conjugate vaccine (PHiD-CV) compared with the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) in Sweden. Methods: A Markov cohort model was used to estimate the effect of vaccination at vaccine steady state, taking a societal perspective and using a 2+1 vaccination schedule. Price parity was assumed between the vaccines. Outcomes were measured by reduction in disease burden, costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. Results: The results predicted that PCV13 would prevent 3 additional cases of invasive pneumococcal disease and 34 additional cases of pneumonia, whereas PHiD-CV would avoid 3 additional cases of mastoiditis, 1010 tube insertions, and 10,420 cases of ambulatory acute otitis media compared with PCV13. By combining morbidity and mortality benefits of all clinical outcomes, PHiD-CV would generate 45.3 additional QALYs compared with PCV13 and generate savings of an estimated 62 million Swedish kronors. Conclusion: The present study predicted lower costs and better health outcome (QALYs) gained by introducing PHiD-CV compared with PCV13 in routine vaccination. Our results indicated that PHiD-CV is cost-effective compared with PCV13 in Sweden. (Clin Ther. 2012;34:177-189) (C) 2012 Elsevier HS Journals, Inc. All rights reserved

Breastfeeding practice, breastfeeding policy and hospitalisations for infectious diseases in early and later childhood : a register-based study in Uppsala County, Sweden

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between breastfeeding practice and hospitalisations for infectious diseases in early and later childhood, in particular, to compare exclusive breast feeding 4-5 months with exclusive breastfeeding 6 months or more. Thereby, provide evidence to inform breastfeeding policy. DESIGN: A register-based cohort study. SETTING: A cohort was created by combining the Swedish Medical Birth Register, the National Inpatient Register, the Cause of Death Register, the Total Population Register, the Longitudinal integration database for health insurance and labour market studies, with the Uppsala Preventive Child Health Care database. PATIENTS: 37 825 term and post-term singletons born to women who resided in Uppsala County (Sweden) between 1998 and 2010. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of hospitalisations for infectious diseases in early (&lt;2 years) and later childhood (2-4 years). RESULTS: The risk of hospitalisations for infectious diseases decreased with duration of exclusive breastfeeding until 4 months of age. In early childhood, breast feeding was associated with a decreased risk of enteric and respiratory infections. In comparison with exclusive breast feeding 6 months or more, the strongest association was found between no breastfeeding and enteric infections (adjusted incidence rate ratios, aIRR 3.32 (95% CI 2.14 to 5.14)). In later childhood, breast feeding was associated with a lower risk of respiratory infections. In comparison with children exclusively breastfed 6 months or more, the highest risk was found in children who were not breastfed (aIRR 2.53 (95% CI 1.51 to 4.24)). The risk of hospitalisations for infectious diseases was comparable in children exclusively breastfed 4-5 months and children exclusively breastfed 6 months or more. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support breastfeeding guidelines that recommend exclusive breastfeeding for at least 4 months

Socioeconomic circumstances, health-related behaviours and paediatric infections : a mediation analysis

Objective: To examine how the effect of disadvantaged socioeconomic circumstances on the risk of paediatric infections is mediated by pregnancy smoking, excess weight during pregnancy and breast feeding in children under 5 years of age. Design: A population-level, retrospective cohort study. The Swedish Medical Birth Register was combined with the National Patient Register, the longitudinal integration database for health insurance and labour market studies, the Cause of Death Register and a local register held by the Child Health Care Unit in Uppsala Region. Setting: Uppsala Region, Sweden. Patients: 63 216 term and post-term singletons born to women who resided in Uppsala Region, Sweden between 1997 and 2015. Main outcome measures: Number of hospital admissions for infectious diseases. Secondary outcomes were the number of hospitalisations for respiratory and enteric infections, respectively. Results: The effect of disadvantaged socioeconomic circumstances, that is, low maternal education on the overall risk of paediatric infections was mediated to a considerable (33%-64%) proportion by pregnancy smoking, excess weight during pregnancy and breast feeding. Conclusions: Pregnancy smoking, excess weight during pregnancy and breast feeding mediate a considerable proportion of the association between deprived socioeconomic circumstances and paediatric infectious diseases. Therefore, inequalities in paediatric infectious diseases may be reduced by public health policies addressing these health-related behaviours

Intersectional inequalities in paediatric infectious diseases : a national cohort study in Sweden

Background: It is well known that socially deprived children are more likely to be hospitalised for infections. Less is known about how different social disadvantages interact. Therefore, we examine intersectional inequalities in overall, upper respiratory, lower respiratory, enteric and genitourinary infections in the first 5 years of life. Methods: We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of Swedish children born between 1998 and 2015. Inequalities were examined using analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy as the analytical framework. A variable with 60 intersectional strata was created by combining information on maternal education, household income, sex/gender and maternal migration status. We estimated the incidence rates of infectious disease hospitalisation for each intersectional strata and the associations between intersectional strata and infectious disease hospitalisations using logistic regression models. We furthermore quantified the discriminatory ability of the intersectional strata with respect to infectious disease hospitalisation. Results: The study included 1785 588 children and 318 080 hospital admissions. The highest overall incidence of hospitalisations for infections was found in boys born to low-educated mothers who lived in families with the lowest household income. The overall incidence of infections was unrelated to household income in children born to highly educated mothers. The ability of the intersectional strata to discriminate between children with and without infections was poor. Conclusion: We found that inequalities in paediatric infectious diseases were shaped by the intersections of different social disadvantages. These inequalities should be addressed by public health policies that reach all children