DYNAMIC MULTIVARIATE MODELING - DAY-CARE AND CONSULTATION RATE FOR ACUTE OTITIS-MEDIA

A random sample of 2,512 children was monitored to the age of 2 years to study the effects of various risk variables on the consultation rat e for acute otitis media. A total of 3,283 episodes of acute otitis me dia of 2,411 children with a follow-up time of at least 1 month were i ncluded in the analysis. During a 3 week-period after onset of the epi sode, the number of unplanned visits varied between 0 (2,544 episodes; 77.5%) and 6 (2 episodes; 0.1%). The children with day care outside t heir home showed a diminished risk for unplanned visits during the fir st week. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for chil dren in family day care were 0.58 and 0.39-0.8, and 0.72 and 0.47-1.11 for children in nursery day care, respectively. During the second and third weeks the results were reversed: the above odds ratios should b e multiplied by interaction terms 2.19 (CI 1.41-3.42; new OR 1.27) for children in family day care and 1.57 (CI 0.97-2.54; new OR 1.13) for children in nursery day care.