- Regression analysis of factors influencing the recurrent course of acute respiratory infections in preschool children
Regression analysis of factors influencing the recurrent course of acute respiratory infections in preschool children
Modern Pediatrics. Ukraine. (2026).2(154): 52-58. doi: 10.15574/SP.2026.2(154).5258
Voloshin O. M.1, Marushko Yu. V.2, Osychniuk L. M.1, Dmytriv Kh. V.3, Rudenko I. V.1
1Luhansk State Medical University, Rivne, Ukraine
2Bogomolets National Medical University, Kyiv, Ukraine
3Rivne City Children's Hospital, Ukraine
For citation: Voloshin OM, Marushko YuV, Osychniuk LM, Dmytriv KhV, Rudenko IV. (2026). Regression analysis of factors influencing the recurrent course of acute respiratory infections in preschool children. Modern Pediatrics. Ukraine. 2(154): 52-58. doi: 10.15574/SP.2026.2(154).5258.
Article received: Jan 09, 2026. Accepted for publication: Mar 16, 2026.
Aim – to identify the factors that significantly increase the susceptibility of preschool children to the recurrent course of acute respiratory infections (ARI) using adjusted binary logistic regression analysis.
Materials and methods. A total of 540 children (299 boys and 241 girls) aged 12-83 months, undergoing inpatient treatment for ARI, were involved in the study. Initially, the number of ARI episodes were taken into account for the examined children during the previous year of their live, as well as their age at the time of examination, 5 anthropometric parameters, as well as the presence or absence of 22 potential dichotomous risk factors for self-limiting recurrent respiratory infections (RRI). Statistical processing of the obtained data was performed using licensed IBM SPSS Statistics 28 software. The binary logistic regression method and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were applied.
Results. There was a weak association between an increase in children's body length/height and less frequent ARI episodes. At the same time, 5 predictors were identified as risk factors for more frequent ARI episodes, specifically: the mother's full-time employment during the previous; the mother's susceptibility to RRI in childhood; the presence of other children with RRI in the family; prolonged passive exposure of the child to tobacco smoke; the absence or short duration of breastfeeding.
Conclusions. The generated model of binary classification of the children according to the selected number of ARI episodes (1-6; 7 and more) during the previous year of their life had a high degree of significance, with a sensitivity of 68.7% and a specificity of 84.3% at the most optimal cut-off point on the ROC curve.
The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study protocol was approved by the local ethics committee of the institution mentioned in the work.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Keywords: preschool children, self-limiting recurrent respiratory infections, risk factors, binary logistic regression, ROC analysis.
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