Morbidity in Canadian Indian and non-Indian children in the first year of life.

A cohort study of health status was undertaken to determine the patterns of morbidity in the first year of life for Indian and non-Indian infants living in southern Ontario. The annual incidence of office-reported health problems was 8.0 episodes for the 99 Indians and 4.5 for the 316 non-Indians studied. The risk of illness of most diagnostic categories was more than 1.5 times greater and the rate of hospital admission 4 times greater for the Indian infants. There was no difference between the two cohorts in the rates of visits to hospital emergency departments. The main cause of illness in both cohorts was respiratory tract infection; lower respiratory tract infections, particularly pneumonia, were a major health problem among the Indian infants. Only 36% of the Indian infants compared with 68% of the non-Indian infants attended five or more well-baby examinations. Part of the difference in morbidity between the Indian and non-Indian infants may be attributed to environmental factors, health care behaviour and geographic constraints.     

Plasma levels of DSIP in infants in the first year of life and SIDS risk.

In searching for abnormalities related to the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP), a regulatory peptide with sleep promoting actions, was investigated in the first year of life in four groups of children: (1) preterm infants (n = 28), (2) infants with a high mean apnea duration evaluated polysomnographically (n = 26), (3) healthy full-term infants (n = 37) and (4) siblings of SIDS-victims (n = 26). DSIP was radioimmunoassayed in plasma. Half of the infants were also investigated polygraphically during sleep. The ratio between quiet sleep and active sleep was determined. There was no age dependence of the plasma level of DSIP in the first year of life but there was an increase in the ratio of quiet/active sleep depending of maturity. The level of DSIP in healthy full-term infants was significantly higher (P less than 0.05) (median: 1885 pmol/l, interquartile range: 757 pmol/l) than in preterms (1595; 385) and in infants with a high mean apnea duration (1542; 373). There was no significant difference in DSIP concentrations between healthy full-term infants and SIDS-siblings (1605; 271).     

Formation of intestinal microflora in children during the first year of their life

In 525 young children the state of intestinal microbiocenosis was studied every month of the first year their life. The study revealed that the process of the microflora formation lasted throughout the first year of their life and was characterized by dysbiotic disturbances. During this period the aggravation of dysbiotic changes in the intestine of these children on months 3, 6-7 and 11-12 was of particular importance. The formation of stable dysbacteriosis led to a decrease in the immunological status of the child, which was manifested by the increased content of such microorganisms as hemolytic cocci, Proteus and a decrease in the quantitative level of bifidobacteria in the total intestinal microbiocenosis by the end of the first year of child's life.     

Variability of anthropometric traits at birth in healthy children and children suffering from acute respiratory diseases in the first year of life

Variation of 5 anthropometric traits at birth in groups of normal children who had suffered from acute respiratory diseases during their first year of life was studied in Russian migrant and native population inhabiting the Western area of Baikal-Amur Railway. It was shown that affected children from migrant and native population had lower average values of all traits, as compared with normal children. In order to reduce the number of variable, the principal component analysis was applied. Stronger similarity was found between groups of normal children from native and migrant populations than between normal children and affected children from one population. This can be the evidence of the formation of similar adaptive norm for children from both Russian populations.     

Patterns of respiratory illness in the first year of life.

This paper describes a study of respiratory illness during the first year of life in a cohort of infants who were born between 1975 and 1978 to mothers who were registered with two inner London group general practices. The types of respiratory illness and their relation to the season of the year and season of birth of the child are examined. The relations among the frequency and type of respiratory illness and several social and family factors that have previously been shown to be associated with high levels of respiratory morbidity are also described.     

A neurophysiologic study of sleep in children during the first year of life]

Polygraphic investigation of day sleep has been carried out in thirty suckling infants (aged from 25 days to 12 months). EEG, OCG, SGR, respiration ECG, muscular activity, and in some infants, also rheographic parameters (REG and RG of the shin) have shown that already at an early nursing age, states of drowsiness, falling asleep, light and medium depth and deep slow sleep set in, as well as the so-called rapid sleep which occurs only after slow sleep. The denotation of the slow sleep stages is based on the classification by Loomis et al., though their electroenecepholographic expression in the infant is in many ways peculiar and undergoes certain dynamics during the first year of life. Peculiarities of the central area EEG have been exhibited in all the age groups, and it has been assumed that the central parts of the cortex of a suckling infant are a kind of "window" into the subcortical parts. While EEG, displaying new forms of activity at certain stages of sleep undergo distinct age changes, vegetative sleep manifestations display only some age depending quantitative differences. Thus, at the nursing age the mechanisms of electroencephalographic and vegetative sleep manifestations are of different degree of maturity: they possess a considerable autonomy, although they function in concord.