Infectious illnesses in the first two years of life.

The number and types of infectious illnesses experienced in 1 year by 279 inner city infants younger than 12 months were examined and correlated with some personal and social attributes and the children. Only 24 (8.6%) infants incurred no infectious illnesses in 12 months. The children experienced an average of one episode of otitis media (OM), one upper respiratory illness and three total illnesses during the year. Only 7.5 and 2.2% of the children experienced more than two episodes of upper respiratory illnesses and gastroenteritis, respectively, but 19% of the infants incurred more than two episodes of OM. The months with the highest number of illnesses for both the entire cohort and the infants who were enrolled at 1 month or less of life were March-April and October-November. The months in which the fewest illnesses occurred were August-September for both groups. The only variable associated with an increased number of total illnesses was a personal history of eczema or allergy (P less than 0.01). No variables were found to be associated with the occurrences of pneumonia, gastroenteritis or upper respiratory illnesses. Multiple episodes of OM during the study period were associated with male sex (P less than 0.01), bottle feeding (p less than 0.05) and a history of OM before the onset of the study (P less than 0.01).