NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although day care may increase the risk of colds at a young age, it may prevent colds when children are older, Arizona researchers report.

"Parents of preschoolers who are frustrated by their child's frequency of colds and the lack of an effective treatment for the common cold should take heart in knowing that their child is developing immunity which will protect them against similar illnesses in the future," Dr. Thomas M. Ball, of the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, told Reuters Health.

To investigate, Ball and his colleagues conducted a long-term follow-up study of 991 children from birth to 13 years.

Overall, children who attended large day care centers had more frequent colds at 2 and 3 years of age than their peers who were enrolled in small day care centers, and children in small day care centers had more frequent colds at those ages than those in home care, the investigators report in the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

In fact, children cared for in large day care centers were 90% more likely to have frequent colds than their peers who were cared for at home, the report indicates.

Yet, by 6 to 11 years of age, the children who had been enrolled in large day care centers were reportedly 60% to 70% less likely to have frequent colds than their at-home peers. The children cared for at home had a similar number of colds at those ages as the children in small day care centers.

At 13 years of age, however, all three groups of children were at similar risk of frequent colds, Ball and his team report.

Similar trends were observed for length of time in day care, the researchers note. Children who attended large day care centers for 2 years or longer had a 70% greater risk of frequent colds at 2 and 3 years of age and a 70% to 80% decreased risk of frequent colds at ages 8 through 11 than their peers who attended large day care centers for less than one year. Again, by age 13, both groups had a similar risk of frequent colds.

"It is hard to see our children suffer through common childhood maladies, such as the common cold, but this is an inevitable part of the development of their immune systems," Ball said. "Whether they acquire that immunity during preschool or elementary it will be acquired on their way to a healthier future."

In a related editorial published in the same journal, Dr. Abraham B. Bergman of Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington writes that Ball's study "lifts a heavy stone off the backs of guilt-ridden parents who put their children in large day care centers."

"The real lesson is that there are roses and thorns in all aspects of child rearing," the editorialist writes. "Parents must do what they think is best for their families and should not obsess about minor illnesses like colds, over which they have little control."

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 2002;156:104, 121-

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