Child Public Health Resources
Reading
Hot Reads for Child Public Health September 2008
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Trends in child deaths in New South Wales 1996-2005
This 556p publication from the NSW Child Death Review Team presents data on all deaths of children and young people registered in NSW over a ten year period, with more detailed reports on selected causes of death. An interesting finding was that for asthma-related deaths there was a decline in the mortality rate in the relatively low and middle socioeconomic areas but an increase in relatively high socioeconomic areas. The Team notes continuing, and in some cases growing, inequalities in health outcomes, by Aboriginal identity, socioeconomic disadvantage, and geographic remoteness. Standing out among these were deaths related to meningococcal disease and pneumonia, particularly for infants. Recommendations include reducing such inequalities, unintentional injury prevention including better enforcement of pool fencing regulations, and improving data quality including the death certification process. -
A fair go for all children: Actions to address child poverty in New Zealand
From the Office of the Children’s Commissioner a comprehensive review of the impact of poverty on children, and a three-fold case for action: social equity and children’s rights to an adequate standard of living; the unnecessarily high short-term and long-term health, education and welfare costs associated with the consequences of child poverty; and the need to develop highly skilled, highly productive workers to ensure continued prosperity. Recommendations are grouped under four key themes: giving children a good start; supporting parents to work; ensuring an adequate income for all families with children; and setting goals and targets. The conclusion includes a reminder that child poverty is not inevitable, and quotes the 2005 UNICEF report: “Variation in government policy appears to account for most of the variation in child poverty levels between OECD countries” The government is encouraged to count the cost of not investing in more assistance for low-income families with children. -
Socioeconomic status and rates of breastfeeding in Australia: evidence from three recent national health surveys MJA2008; 189(5): 254-256
Secondary analysis of data from ABS national health surveys in 1995, 2001 and 2004–05 found increased disparities in breastfeeding duration comparing the most disadvantaged and least disadvantaged families, despite little overall change in initiation rates or duration. In 1995, the odds ratio (OR) of breastfeeding at 6 months increased by an average of 13% for each increase in SEIFA quintile; in 2001, the comparative increase was 21%; while in 2004–05, the comparative increase was 26%. -
Early introduction of fish decreases the risk of eczema in infants Arch Dis Child. doi:10.1136/adc.2008.140418
The folklore in our family was that eating fish promotes brain growth. This nested case-control study from Sweden shows it’s good for your skin. 8176 families (50% of participants in a birth cohort longitudinal study) were invited to participate and complete questionnaires when the child was aged 6 and 12 months. Response rate 60.2%. At 12 months, 20.9% of the infants had previous or current eczema with median age at onset at four months. Familial occurrence of eczema, especially in siblings or mother was an independent risk factor. They observed beneficial effects of introducing fish before nine months of age and having a bird in the home There was no effect from short-term breast-feeding, the age at which milk or eggs were introduced, a cat or dog in the home or parental smoking. -
Awareness and Use of California's Paid Family Leave Insurance Among Parents of Chronically Ill Children JAMA. 2008;300(9):1047-1055.
Surveys of parents of chronically ill children before (n=754) and after (n=766) California introduced a state program (PFLI) to provide paid leave to care for an ill family member found that only 18% had heard of PFLI approximately 18 months after the program began, and only 5% had used it. This low level of knowledge and uptake perhaps explains why there was no difference observed before and after introduction of the program in California, nor any difference observed between states, for the outcome measures. These measures were: taking at least 1 day leave to care for the child, taking at least 4 weeks leave to care for the child, and at least once not missing work despite believing the child's illness necessitated it. It would be interesting to see how well such families in Australia and New Zealand are receiving their entitlements to assistance. -
Surveillance of physical activity in the UK is flawed: validation of the Health Survey for England physical activity questionnaire Arch Dis Child. doi:10.1136/adc.2007.135905.
A timely reminder of the importance of validating questionnaires used to gather population level data. Habitual moderate-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) of a group of 130 children (64 boys; 66 girls) aged 6-7 years was estimated using the Health Survey for England parent-report questionnaire for physical activity. For the same time period and the same children the researchers measured MVPA objectively using 7-day accelerometry with the Actigraph accelerometer. The questionnaire over-estimated MVPA significantly Mean time spent in MVPA was 146 minutes/day (CI 124-169) using the questionnaire and 24 minutes/day (CI 22-26) using the accelerometer. It is of concern that levels of habitual physical activity in children are likely to be substantially lower than those reported in UK Health Surveys. -
Effectiveness of a Community Coalition for Improving Child Vaccination Rates in New York City American Journal of Public Health, 10.2105/AJPH.2007.121046
Demonstrating what we might hopefully expect, this retrospective, matching, birth cohort design found that a coalition-led, community-based immunisation program was effective in improving on-time childhood immunisation coverage in a Latino, urban community. After controlling for Latino ethnicity and Medicaid, children enrolled in the program were 53% more likely to be up-to-date (adjusted odds ratio=1.53; 95% confidence interval=1.33, 1.75) and to receive timely immunizations than were children in the control group. -
The relationship between maternal depression, in-home violence and use of physical punishment: What is the role of child behaviour? Arch Dis Child. doi:10.1136/adc.2007.128595.
Analysis of data from 12,764 mother-child dyads in a nationally representative sample of US kindergarten children found an increased likelihood of spanking among mothers with depressive symptoms (OR=1.59; 95% CI 1.40, 1.80); among mothers exposed to in-home violence, 1.48 (1.18, 1.85); and among dually exposed mothers, 2.51 (1.87, 3.37). Child self-control and externalizing behaviour did not appear to impact these associations.
