Gastrointestinal and respiratory illness in children that do and do not attend child day care centers: a cost-of-illness study.

backgroundGastrointestinal and respiratory diseases are major causes of morbidity for young children, particularly for those children attending child day care centers (DCCs). Although both diseases are presumed to cause considerable societal costs for care and treatment of illness, the extent of these costs, and the difference of these costs between children that do and do not attend such centers, is largely unknown.

objectiveEstimate the societal costs for care and treatment of episodes of gastroenteritis (GE) and influenza-like illness (ILI) experienced by Dutch children that attend a DCC, compared to children that do not attend a DCC.

methodsA web-based monthly survey was conducted among households with children aged 0-48 months from October 2012 to October 2013. Households filled-in a questionnaire on the incidence of GE and ILI episodes experienced by their child during the past 4 weeks, on the costs related to care and treatment of these episodes, and on DCC arrangements. Costs and incidence were adjusted for socioeconomic characteristics including education level, nationality and monthly income of parents, number of children in the household, gender and age of the child and month of survey conduct.

resultsChildren attending a DCC experienced higher rates of GE (aIRR 1.4 [95%CI: 1.2-1.9]) and ILI (aIRR: 1.4 [95%CI: 1.2-1.6]) compared to children not attending a DCC. The societal costs for care and treatment of an episode of GE and ILI experienced by a DCC-attending child were estimated at €215.45 [€115.69-€315.02] and €196.32 [€161.58-€232.74] respectively, twice as high as for a non-DCC-attending child. The DCC-attributable economic burden of GE and ILI for the Netherlands was estimated at €25 million and €72 million per year.

conclusionsAlthough children attending a DCC experience only slightly higher rates of GE and ILI compared to children not attending a DCC, the costs involved per episode are substantially higher.