The epidemiology of streptococcal disease affecting 706 Alaskan Eskimo children was investigated by analysis of data on throat cultures obtained during a long-term surveillance program begun in 1971. A binary variable multiple-regression model was used to study the association between streptococcal colonization of these children and six potential risk factors: age, sex, number of children in household, region, health-aide rating, and colonization rate for each child the previous year. Factors found to be significantly associated with streptococcal colonization included age, past colonization, competence of local health-aide in providing care, and health-care region. Age varied most in the standardized colonization ratio (percentage of corresponding adjusted rate to overall crude colonization rate), ranging from 122 percent for children 3--6 years old to 67 percent for children 13--18 years old. The number of children in over-crowded homes and a child's sex were not apparently important. The method of analysis can be used to provide health-care planners with a simple means of identifying potentially important areas of concern for planning effective and economical health-care strategy.
Notes
From: Fortuine, Robert et al. 1993. The Health of the Inuit of North America: A Bibliography from the Earliest Times through 1990. University of Alaska Anchorage. Citation number 1792.