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In anticipation of licensure and introduction of rotavirus vaccine into the western market, we used modeling of national hospital registry data to determine the incidence and direct medical costs of [...]

OBJECTIVES. It is well known that children attending childcare have a higher risk of acute respiratory infections compared with children in home care; however, knowledge is sparse regarding how the excess risk of acute respiratory infection varies with age, time since enrollment, and other factors. METHODS. A national register-based study of 138 821 inpatient admissions to hospital for acute respiratory infection during 3 982 925 person-years of follow-up in Danish children aged 0 to 5 years. Data on child and family characteristics, childcare attendance, and hospitalizations were obtained from Danish registries. The outcome of the study was inpatient admissions to hospital for acute respiratory infection. Incidence rate ratios were estimated using Poisson regression. RESULTS. In children CONCLUSIONS. The increased risk of acute respiratory infection was most pronounced among 0- to 2-year-old children living with no other children during the first 6 months of enrollment. Our findings may suggest that it would be optimal to postpone enrollment into childcare until after 1 year of age. Key Words childcare, acute respiratory infection, morbidity, epidemiology Abbreviations ARI--acute respiratory infection DCRS--Danish Civil Registration System DNPR--Danish National Patient Registry ICD--International Classification of Diseases URI--upper respiratory infection LRI--lower respiratory infection IRR--incidence rate ratio CI--confidence interval, PREVIOUS STUDIES HAVE consistently found that children who are taken care of in a childcare facility away from their home have a higher risk of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) than [...]

A study is conducted to evaluate the relationship between routinely administered childhood vaccines and hospitalization for nontargeted infectious diseases. The results of the study do not support the hypotheses that multiple-antigen vaccines or aggregated vaccine exposure increase the risk of nontargeted infections disease hospitalization.

A report on the association between the growth during childhood and the risk of breast cancer in a cohort of 117,415 Danish women is presented. It is concluded that birth weight and growth during childhood and adolescence influence the risk of breast cancer in woman.

Objective. To describe incidence and temporal trends of intussusceptions in Danish children during 1980 to 2001. Methods. A population-based cohort study was conducted of 1.67 million children who were younger than 5 years during 1980 to 2001 and were followed up for 6.66 million person-years. The Danish National Patient Registry was used to identify cases of intussusception in the cohort. Age-specific incidence rates were main outcome measure. Results. A total of 1814 cases of intussusception among children who were younger than 5 years were reported from 1980 to 2001. The incidence rate remained fairly constant during 1980 to 1990 but decreased by 55% (95% confidence interval: 43%-65%) from 1990 to 2001. The reduction was most pronounced among children aged 3 to 5 months. Conclusions. The incidence of intussusception among Danish children declined significantly during the 1990s, particularly among infants 3 to 5 months of age. Pediatrics 2004;114:782-785; children, incidence, intussusception, population-based studies., ABBREVIATIONS. NPR, National Patient Registry; ICD, International Classification of Diseases; CI, confidence interval. Intussusception is the most common cause of intestinal obstruction in children younger than 2 years. The condition [...]

Millions of children are vaccinated with the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine annually and the safety of this vaccine is of prime concern to researchers with tests being conducted to estimate incidence rate ratios (RRs) following this vaccination. It was found that there is an increased rate of febrile seizures after MMR vaccination but the risk difference was smaller in high-risk children.

A diverse casual mechanisms is proposed to explain a possible link between childhood vaccination and type 1 diabetes. Three case studies from Sweden, Europe and United States found no adverse effect of childhood vaccination on type 1 diabetes.

Objectives. We sought to determine precise estimates of infant mortality rates and to describe overall trends in infant mortality in Greenland and Denmark from 1973 to 1997. Methods. We analyzed data from population-based registries of all live-born infants in Greenland and Denmark to calculate infant mortality rates from 1973 to 1997. Results. Between the periods of 1973-1977 and 1993-1997, neonatal mortality rates in Greenland declined from 20.9 per 1000 live-born infants to 15.7, and post-neonatal mortality rates declined from 20.9 per 1000 to 5.9. Infant mortality rates were significantly higher in Greenland than in Denmark, and the excess mortality was uniformly distributed over all birthweight percentiles. In Greenland, the risk of infant death was significantly lower if the mother was born outside Greenland. Conclusions. Postneonatal mortality rates in Greenland have decreased significantly during the past 25 years, but little progress has been made in decreasing neonatal mortality rates. Disparities exist among children with different maternal origins. (Am J Public Health. 2004;94:452-457)

Vaccines that contain thimerosal probably do not increase the risk of autism in children who receive them, according to a study of 467,450 Danish children born between 1990 and 1996. There was no increase in the number of children with autism in the group that received vaccines containing thimerosal compared to the group that received vaccines without thimerosal. Thimerosal is a mercury compound used as a preservative.

Children who were vaccinated with BCG vaccine as babies are just as likely to develop an allergic disease as those who are not. BCG is a tuberculosis vaccine. Doctors believed BCG vaccine might protect children from developing an allergic disease, but a study of 1,575 children in Greenland shows that this is not true. Greenland stopped vaccinating babies with BCG in 1990.

The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine does not cause autism, according to a study of 537,303 children born in Denmark between 1991 and 1998. The rate of autism was no higher in the vaccinated children than it was in the unvaccinated children.

Environmental factors may be a more important risk factor for schizophrenia than a family history. Researchers analyzed the records of 2,669 schizophrenics among 1.75 million people in Denmark. Having a family member with schizophrenia increased the risk about 7 to 9 times depending on the family member. However, only 5.5% of the patients had a family history of schizophrenia. Ten percent had been born in the early spring, the season of highest risk. Thirty-five percent had been born in an urban area. Although genetic factors cannot be completely excluded, environment factors appear to play a bigger role.