Early-life infection burden linked to risk for later infections

Early-life infection burden is associated with an increased risk for later moderate-to-severe infections and systemic antibiotic treatments to age 10 or 13 years, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.

Nicklas Brustad, MD, Ph.D., from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and colleagues conducted a longitudinal cohort study of children from birth to age 10 or 13 years using data from the Danish population-based Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood birth cohort between November 2008 and November 2010 to examine whether early-life infection burden is associated with later risk for infection.

A total of 614 children with diary-registered common infection episodes of cold, acute otitis media, tonsillitis, pneumonia, gastroenteritis, and fever episodes from birth to 3 years completed follow-up to age 10 or 13 years.

The researchers found that the risks of later moderate-to-severe infections and systemic antibiotic treatments until age 10 or 13 years were increased for children with a high versus low burden of daily-registered infections between birth and 3 years (adjusted incidence rate ratios ( AIRRs), 2.39 and 1.34, respectively). The later risk of moderate-to-severe infections and systemic antibiotic treatments was increased with each daily infection episode (AIRRs, 1.05 and 1.02, respectively).

“These findings may be important for the prognosis and follow-up of children experiencing a high burden of common infections in early life,” the authors write

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