Lungs and daycare
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From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Very premature babies can be prone to respiratory infections. And a study finds these kids later can have problems in daycare.
Sharon McGrath-Morrow of Johns Hopkins Children's Center bases that on discussions with parents of 111 children 3 years and younger with a condition called chronic lung disease of prematurity. She found a higher risk of serious respiratory infections:
``Children with chronic lung disease of prematurity who went to daycare had a 3.7-fold increase of going to the emergency room compared to children not in daycare.'' (10 seconds)
She says parents might keep these youngsters out of daycare, or in smaller, healthier daycare centers - and that all should get flu shots.
The study in the journal Pediatrics was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at hhs.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.