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Prevalence of and risk factors for subjective symptoms in urban preschool children without a cause identified by the guardian

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Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of and the risk factors for subjective symptoms without an identified cause by the guardian (SSWICG) in urban preschool children.

Methods

A questionnaire was used to collect information from 661 urban preschool children. The subjective symptoms were cited from the MM075NA Indoor Environment Quality Investigation Questionnaire. Information about living conditions, kindergarten and outdoor environments was collected, as well as health information from each child.

Results

The prevalence of SSWICG reached 31%, among which the prevalence of general symptoms in the central nervous system (CNS) reached 54.6%. Univariate analysis showed that the materials that made indoor furniture, walls and doors, indoor biological factors, outdoor pollution sources near the house and traffic pollution were associated with SSWICG and mucosal, dermal and general symptoms in the CNS subgroups. Multivariate analysis also showed that furniture materials, traffic pollution, kindergarten environment quality and allergies were associated.

Conclusions

The prevalence of SSWICG was relatively high. Possible risk factors include indoor furnishing materials, allergy, traffic pollution and kindergarten environmental pollution.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the kindergarteners and the participants of the study for their efforts and cooperation. This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81072268) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China (No. BK2010535).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, No.140 HanZhong Rd., Nanjing, 210029, China

    Bing-Ling Wang, Xiao-Bo Xu, Yong-Gang Sun & Qi Zhang

  2. Institute of Child Health Care, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, No. 123 Tianfeixiang, Nanjing, 210004, China

    Xi-Ling Li

  3. Department of Child Health Care, Maternity and Child Care Center of Gulou District of Nanjing, No. 150-1 North Zhongshan, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Yong-Gang Sun

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  1. Bing-Ling Wang
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  2. Xi-Ling Li
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  5. Qi Zhang
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Correspondence to Qi Zhang.

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Wang, BL., Li, XL., Xu, XB. et al. Prevalence of and risk factors for subjective symptoms in urban preschool children without a cause identified by the guardian. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 85, 483–491 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-011-0693-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-011-0693-9

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