Refugee Status as a Possible Risk Factor for Childhood Enuresis.

This study investigated the influence of refugee status on the occurrence of enuresis. It was performed among school children aged 6 to 11 years and their parents in the Vukovarsko-srijemska County (eastern Croatia), which had many displaced persons and refugees (mostly women and children) in the 1990s due to the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. A specially designed questionnaire (about the child's age and gender, the child's enuresis history and that of the parents, and data on parental refugee status in childhood) was completed by one of the parents. Adequate data were collected for 3046 children. The prevalence of enuresis among the studied children was quite low (2.3%) but the prevalence distribution according to gender, the decline by age, and the higher odds ratio for paternal enuresis were in line with the results of other studies. The prevalence of parental enuresis in childhood was higher than their children's enuresis (mothers: 5.8%, fathers: 3.6%, p < 0.001), and significantly higher among parents who had been refugees (mothers: p = 0.001, fathers: p = 0.04). Parental refugee status had no influence on the children's enuresis. The results suggest that refugee status is a risk factor for the occurrence of enuresis in childhood.

Risk factors for acute respiratory tract infections in children.

Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) are the most common cause of childhood morbidity and an important public health problem. The aim of this study was to identify the significant risk factors for ARTI in children. The study took place in Ivankovo which is a rural area of Eastern Slavonia and with small socio-economic differences. The study population were 159 children who were 3-5 years old at the time of the study, and who were registrated at doctor's office Ivankovo. The study was conducted retrospectively through a questionnaire from January 2008 to December 2008. The risk factors studied were the gender, breastfeeding history, any atopic manifestation in the form of atopic eczema, rhinoconjuctivitis and/or asthma, the size of the family, parents smoking habits and main form of childcare. The number of ARTI requiring the consultation of a doctor throughout 2007 were measured; and whether ARTI had been treated with antibiotic or there were recommendation for symptomatic treatment only. Results of this research show that the risk factor for consulting a doctor because ofARTI in children was passive exposure to cigarette-smoke. For receiving antibiotics because of ARTI in children, the risk factors were passive exposure to cigarette-smoke and atopic manifestation. By giving the available evidence, parents must be told that ceasing smoking offers a significant opportunity to reduce the risk of ARTI in their children.

The influence of mother's active smoking during pregnancy on body mass index of newborns.

Many investigations have noted bad influence of smoking during pregnancy. In the present article, the influence of mothers smoking during pregnancy on the body mass index (BMI), birth weight and birth length are examined. This retrospective research included 219 children: Group I: 109 children from rural area of east Slavonia (born in General Hospital-Vinkovci) and group II: 110 children from industrial area (born in Zagreb). The questioned subjects were divided into two groups depending on mothers smoking during pregnancy: newborns of mothers who didn't smoke during pregnancy (subgroup A) and newborns of mother who did smoke 10 or more cigarettes per day during pregnancy (subgroup B). Anthropometric parameters (BMI, birth length and birth weight) in newborns of non-smoking mothers were statistically higher (p < 0.05) than in newborns of smoking mothers. Moderate correlation between birth length and birth weight in newborns of non-smoking and smoking mothers from rural area and from non-smoking mothers in urban area was statistically significant, but correlation in the group in newborns of smoking mothers from Zagreb was not statistically significant. Results of this research show that smoking during pregnancy significantly influences the birth weight and birth length. Further investigation is needed, to investigate the lack of correlation between the birth length and birth weight in newborns of smoking mothers from industrial city.