Lasten terveys LATE-tutkimus

Summary
Päivi Mäki, Tuovi Hakulinen-Viitanen, Risto Kaikkonen, Päivikki Koponen,
Marja-Leena Ovaskainen, Risto Sippola, Suvi Virtanen, Tiina Laatikainen and
LATE-working group (eds.). Lasten terveys – LATE-tutkimuksen perustulokset lasten
kasvusta, kehityksestä, terveydestä, terveystottumuksista ja kasvuympäristöstä.
[Child Health – Results of the LATE-study on growth, development, health, health
behavior and growth environment]. National Institute for Health and Welfare
(THL). Report 2/2010. 160 pages. Helsinki 2010. ISBN 978-952-245-221-4 (print),
ISBN 978-952-245-222-1 (pdf)
The main results of the Child Health Monitoring Development project pilot study
(LATE-project), conducted in 2007–2008, are presented in this report. This study
was carried out in child health care and school health care units from ten different
health centres in Finland. Information was collected during normal health checks
for children at the ages of six months and one, three and five years. In addition,
children receiving the health checks at school health care centres at first, fifth and
eighth grades were studied. Each age group sample contained ten boys and ten
girls except in the capital area where double the number were selected. The whole
sample size was 1 540 children with 880 children in child health care centres and
660 in school health centres. Data collection was continued until the target sample
size was obtained. Information on refusal was recorded. Participation rate in child
health care units was over 90% and in school health care 65–84%, depending on
children’s age. The survey included a self-administered questionnaire for parents
and older children and a health check up carried out by a trained nurse.
Most of the parents reported that the self-perceived health of their children is
good. However, the study showed many challenges for health promotion work in
children. Overweight and obesity was a notable problem both among small children
and adolescents. Almost 10% of pre-school aged children and children under age
of 12 years were overweight as were 26% of adolescents. A quarter of girls and
about 30% of boys studied had a physician diagnosed chronic disease, injury or
some delay in development. About 10% of children had permanent medication for
some chronic disease. Infectious diseases during the last year were very common
such as respiratory infections, ear infections and gastroenteritis. Use of antibiotics
was extremely common as well. Almost half of the children under school age and
about 30% of school aged children had used antibiotics at least once during the
last year. Different symptoms such as headache, stomach ache, tension, restlessness
and difficulties to concentrate were rather common, especially among school aged
girls. At least 95% of children studied were immunized according to the most
recent recommendations. This implies that the transition phase in the new Finnish
vaccination programme has been organized and implemented successfully.