DETECTION OF SIGNIFICANT RISK FACTORS FOR RECURRENT RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Background. Most often, self-limited recurrent respiratory infections (RRI) are diagnosed among preschool children. On the one hand, these infections pose a significant burden on the healthcare system because of frequent visits to doctors and hospitalizations. At the same time, they have a significant negative impact on the socio-economic situation in countries, caused by parents' prolonged absence from work due to the need to care for frequently ill child. Aim: To identify the most impactful factors contributing to the increased susceptibility of preschool children to self-limited RRI. Materials and methods. A total of 45 children (21 boys and 24 girls) aged 1-6 years, undergoing inpatient treatment on acute respiratory infection (ARI) in Rivne children's hospitals, were involved in the clinical study. The number of ARI episodes during the previous year of their lives, the resistance index and 21 potential risk factors for self-limited RRI were taken into account. The statistical processing of the digital data was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 28 licensed software with the calculation of the confidence interval for Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and odds ratio. Results. Among the studied dichotomous risk factors for self-limited RRI, the following were the most significant in the observed preschool children: 1) urban residence; 2) presence of other children in a family who have/had a predisposition to RRI; 3) use of antibiotics for therapeutic purposes 3 or more times over the previous year; 4) passive exposure to tobacco smoke; 5) maternal smoking during the pregnancy resulting in the birth of the examined child. Overall, for 9 out of 20 dichotomous factors taken into consideration, the undeniable probability of their effect on children's susceptibility to frequent ARI was found. Also, binary logistic regression showed an association between lower blood hemoglobin concentrations and children belonging to the subgroup with more frequent ARI episodes. The proportion of this hematological indicator in the model presented was 51.7%. Conclusions. There were no significant differences in the list of substantial risk factors for self-limited RRI between preschool children living in the eastern and western regions of Ukraine. The findings will be considered in the integrated prediction of preschoolers' increased susceptibility to frequent ARI episodes.