Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, MacKay Children's Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Department of Medicine, MacKay Medical College, Sanzhi District, New Taipei City, Taiwan, R.O.C.
PLoS One. 2019 Jul 16;14(7):e0219684. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219684. eCollection 2019.
Psychological stress has been linked to developmental problems and poor health in children, but it is unclear whether it is also related to otitis media (OM). As part of a long-term study surveying the characteristics of childcare and development in Taiwan, we analyzed the relationship between OM and sources of psychological stress in children, such as poor maternal mental health and harsh parental discipline. We analyzed the data of 1998 children from the "Kids in Taiwan: National Longitudinal Study of Child Development & Care (KIT) Project" at the age of 3 years. Using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models, we tested several risk factors as potential independent predictors of two outcomes: parent-reported incidence of OM and child health. The proportion of children who had developed OM in the first 3 years of their life was 12.5%. Daycare attendance (odds ratio [OR]: 1.475; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.063-2.046), poor maternal mental health (OR: 1.913; 95% CI: 1.315-2.784), and harsh parental discipline (OR: 1.091; 95% CI: 1.025-1.161) correlated with parent-reported occurrence of OM. These findings suggest that providing psychosocial support to both parents and children might be a novel strategy for preventing OM.
心理压力与儿童发育问题和健康状况不佳有关，但目前尚不清楚其是否与中耳炎（OM）有关。作为一项长期研究的一部分，该研究调查了台湾儿童保育和发展的特点，我们分析了 OM 与儿童心理压力源（如母亲心理健康状况不佳和严厉的父母纪律）之间的关系。我们分析了来自“台湾儿童：全国儿童发展与护理纵向研究（KIT）项目”的 1998 名 3 岁儿童的数据。使用双变量和多变量逻辑回归模型，我们测试了几个风险因素，作为父母报告的 OM 发病和儿童健康的两个结果的潜在独立预测因子。在生命的头 3 年中，有 12.5%的儿童发展为 OM。日托出勤率（比值比 [OR]：1.475；95%置信区间 [CI]：1.063-2.046）、母亲心理健康状况不佳（OR：1.913；95% CI：1.315-2.784）和严厉的父母纪律（OR：1.091；95% CI：1.025-1.161）与父母报告的 OM 发病相关。这些发现表明，为父母和儿童提供社会心理支持可能是预防 OM 的一种新策略。
