Background:  In the US, respiratory illness causes significant childhood morbidity. It represents ~10% of pediatric medical office visits. 

Study Objectives: 1) To demonstrate the incidence and etiology of acute respiratory illness in a closely monitored cohort population of children in Eastern Massachusetts. 2) To determine predictors of respiratory illness in children.

Design/Methods: We are enrolling 200 families in Eastern Massachusetts with healthy children.  Each family is followed for a 2-year period.  On a weekly basis, families are contacted by phone and administered a symptom questionnaire to determine the presence of respiratory and other illnesses and risk factors. Rates of self-reported respiratory illness, peak reporting months, and physician visits are determined.

Results: As of February 2004, we have enrolled 75 children under 5 years old (37 females, 24 males) and followed them for 41 person-years. We expect 130 person-years of follow-up in this age category by 11/2004. The rate of physician visits due to respiratory illness is 1.54 cases/person-year in children under 5 and 0.74 in children 5-9. The rates of self-reported respiratory illness in these age groups since fall 2002 were 5.20 and 2.65 cases/person-year, respectively. In children under 5, these rates varied from 2.1 in June 2003 to 6.2 in December 2003. We are currently analyzing the data on socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, lifestyle and hygienic habits. Preliminary results suggest that inconsistent hand washing, household crowding and limited or no history breastfeeding are associated with higher rates of respiratory illness.