All Ireland Traveller Health Study Our Geels - Department of Health ...

Health Survey Findings
Section B1: Child Health (All Children)
General Summary
Information was collected on 1,380 children in ROI: 521 5-year-olds, 399 9-year-old and 460 14-yearolds.
In NI, a total of 183 child health interviews were conducted with the adult respondents, with 61
responses for 5-year-olds, 65 for 9-year-old and 57 for 14-year-olds.
The majority (64.6% ROI and 55.7% NI) of both male and female children were reported as weighing
between 3 and 4 kg at birth. Older children in a family tended to have been relatively lighter at birth
than the subsequent offspring. Most children (56.9% ROI and 65.9% NI) were born at full term (i.e.
between 37 and 41 weeks of gestation), a pattern similar according to age and sex in both jurisdictions.
The breastfeeding rate for children overall was 5.6% in ROI and 7.1% in NI.
In ROI and NI, 90.3% and 97.3% of children respectively were reported as having no ongoing health
problem. For those children who had a health problem, the number one reported condition was
asthma, which accounted for 71.9% of reports of chronic conditions in childhood in ROI. There were
much lower rates reported for other conditions, including inborn errors of metabolism. Patterns were
similar for both male and female children, with asthma the most frequently reported adverse chronic
health condition in each age group. Chest infection was the most commonly cited recent acute
condition. Around a quarter of children (22.9% ROI and 26.0% NI) were reported to have ever had an
accident, boys more frequently than girls in ROI but not in NI and older children more frequently than
younger ones. The most frequently reported type of injury in both ROI and NI was a fall.
41% of Traveller children in ROI and 47.6% in NI had visited a hospital Accident and Emergency
Department (A & E) in the previous 12 months, and 36.5% of children in ROI and 43.9% in NI had done
so on 1 to 3 occasions. Again the gender and age group variation was small.
10% of children in ROI and 7.8% in NI had stayed at least 1 night in hospital in the last year, with
little variability according to age group or sex. The most frequent length of stay was 1 to 3 nights, as
indicated by 66.7% of those hospitalised. Younger children had the shortest length of stay. The most
frequent indications for admission were infectious conditions, including fever or viral conditions,
asthma and other non-surgical conditions.
Both in ROI (58.4%) and in NI (58.5%), a majority of mothers reported adding regular salt to their
child’s food while cooking. In ROI 26.8% and in NI 43.7% reported that their children ate five or greater
portions of fruit and vegetables daily.
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