Journal Article

Childhood otitis media: Relationship with daycare attendance, harsh parenting, and maternal mental health

Nieh, Hsi-Ping, Huang, Daniel Tsung-Ning, Fu, Ren-Huei, Chang, Chien-Ju, Chou, Li-Tuan, Chen, Kai-Wei Kevin

2019

Overview

Psychological stress has been linked to developmental problems and poor health in children, but it is unclear whether it is also related to otitis media (OM). As part of a long-term study surveying the characteristics of childcare and development in Taiwan, we analyzed the relationship between OM and sources of psychological stress in children, such as poor maternal mental health and harsh parental discipline. We analyzed the data of 1998 children from the \"Kids in Taiwan: National Longitudinal Study of Child Development & Care (KIT) Project\" at the age of 3 years. Using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models, we tested several risk factors as potential independent predictors of two outcomes: parent-reported incidence of OM and child health. The proportion of children who had developed OM in the first 3 years of their life was 12.5%. Daycare attendance (odds ratio [OR]: 1.475; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.063-2.046), poor maternal mental health (OR: 1.913; 95% CI: 1.315-2.784), and harsh parental discipline (OR: 1.091; 95% CI: 1.025-1.161) correlated with parent-reported occurrence of OM. These findings suggest that providing psychosocial support to both parents and children might be a novel strategy for preventing OM.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Age / Biology and Life Sciences / Bivariate analysis / Breastfeeding & lactation / Care and treatment / Chen, Daniel / Child & adolescent psychiatry / Child Behavior Disorders - epidemiology / Child care / Child Day Care Centers / Child Development / Child Rearing - psychology / Child, Preschool / Childhood / Children / Children & youth / Childrens health / Confidence intervals / Correlation analysis / Daycare / Ear diseases / Epidemiology / Families & family life / Family medical history / Female / Health aspects / Hospitals / Humans / Immune system / Infectious diseases / Influence / Longitudinal Studies / Low income groups / Male / Medicine and Health Sciences / Mental disorders / Mental Disorders - psychology / Mental health / Mothers - psychology / Multivariate Analysis / Novels / Odds Ratio / Otitis / Otitis media / Otitis Media - complications / Otitis Media - epidemiology / Otitis Media - psychology / Otolaryngology / Parent-child relations / Parenting / Parenting - psychology / Parents / Parents & parenting / Parents - psychology / Pathogenesis / Pediatrics / People and Places / Prevention / Prospective Studies / Psychological aspects / Psychological stress / Punishment - psychology / Regression analysis / Regression models / Risk analysis / Risk factors / Social Sciences / Statistical analysis / Stress, Psychological - complications / Studies / Surveying / Surveys and Questionnaires / Taiwan - epidemiology / Validity