Short- and Long-term Risk of Infections as a Function of Group Child Care Attendance

Short- and Long-term Risk of Infections as a Function of Group Child Care Attendance

As a parent you always want the best for your child to keep them free from illness. There will come a time when you must decide to introduce them to a daycare or to preschool. The byproduct of that is bacteria and germs! The alternative would be to keep them home and you may possibly be able to control the environment but how about the long run? Can you possibly shield them from play dates? How about at the playground? I think we all acknowledge that we won't put our children in a bubble (I hope..).

This research shows that children who are introduced to daycare early in life are less likely to get sick later.

See results:

Results Compared with children cared for at home, those who started large GCC in the early preschool period had higher rates of respiratory tract infections (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27-2.03) and ear infections (IRR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.19-2.20) during that period but lower rates of respiratory tract infections (IRR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.66-0.96) and ear infections (IRR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.37-0.88) during the elementary school years.

Conclusions Children contract infections around the time they initiate large structured group activities. Participation in large GCC before 2 years old, although associated with increased infections at that time, seems to protect against infections during the elementary school years. Physicians may reassure parents that infections during the first child care years do not lead to a higher overall burden of infections.