A longitudinal morbidity study was carried out in a day care center in Brasilia (Brazil) on a sample of 67 (34 male and 33 female, 3 to 21 months of age) well-fed children from middle-class families. A pediatrician was on duty daily in the center. The incidence of disease was: upper respiratory, 25.4%; diarrhea, 23.6%; and undetermined fever, 18.4%. These represented 2/3 of the diagnoses. The other diseases found (and here listed in order of frequency) were: conjunctivitis, 15.5%; childhood infections, 7.9%; skin diseases, 3.8%; accidents, 2.6%; hepatitis, 2.6%; and meningitis, 0.3%. There were a total of 343 acute illnesses, giving a mean incidence rate of 14 illnesses per child per year, independent of sex and age. Perhaps the incidence of illnesses would have been lower if the children had not been attending the center, a natural factor in the dissemination of communicable diseases.
Morbidity; Epidemiology; Child day care centers