Frequent ear infections in association with child-care characteristics, based on the 1988 Child Health Supplement to the National Health Interview Survey.

Using the 1988 Child Health Supplement to the National Health Interview Survey, we analysed the association between child-care characteristics and frequent ear infections among children under 6 years attending child care. We observed strong associations for 1- to 2-year-old children for variables involving exposure to many different children, including number of children in the main setting and one or more changes in child-care arrangement in the past year. No significant effects were observed for the children under 1 year, but sample sizes were small. Likewise, no strong associations were observed for the 3- to 5-year-old children, but they may have outgrown the detrimental effects of repeated respiratory tract infections.