Lower respiratory tract illness in Polynesian infants.

A follow-up at five months of 269 Polynesian infants born at Hutt Hospital over a nine month period showed an incidence of lower respiratory symptoms of 42 percent. Nineteen percent of the infants had recurrent or prolonged symptoms. These infants more frequently had a family history of asthma or bronchitis in first degree relatives, had a greater incidence of damp housing and were often of lower socio-economic status. There was a lower rate of breast feeding in the symptomatic groups suggesting that breast milk has a role in preventing the syndrome of recurrent respiratory illness in Polynesian infants.