Actions undertaken by parents in prevention of acute respiratory infections in children.

Abstract

Introduction and objective Acute infections of the respi-ratory system in children constitute a significant health, epi- demiological and social problem. Due to the high frequency of infections in children and their repeated severe course, prophylactic measures are of particular importance. The aim of the study was to analyze and evaluate the efforts undertaken by parents in the prevention of acute respiratory infections in children Material and methods Research was carried out among 122 parents of children diagnosed with acute respiratory infection. The study used the method of own diagnostic survey Results The vast majority of parents (95.4%) confirmed that their children were vaccinated in accordance with the current vaccination schedule. The majority of respondents (55%) in-dicated that their children were not breastfed until 6 months of age. The results revealed that the mean incidence of pneu- monia was higher in those who were not breastfed (0.44 ±0.89) than in the group of children breastfed up to 6 monthsof age (p = 0.0412). In almost half of the children, the durationof walks / regular physical activity during the day was only 60 minutes – 48.1% of the respondents. Conclusions In the group of factors increasing the risk of acute respiratory infections in children, the attendance to nur-series / kindergartens dominated. The most frequent actions taken by parents to reduce the risk of acute respiratory infec- tions in children included: observing the vaccination schedule, adequate number of hours of sleep in the child, administration of vitamin D, and parents who do not smoke cigarettes.

Keywords

• reventive actions
• risk factors
• acute respiratory infections