Effectiveness of Immunity Supporting Drugs in Preventing Respiratory Infections in Nursery Children

Objective: In order to reduce the frequency of respiratory infections during the autumn and winter months in healthy nursery children, many drugs that support the immunity are widely used by families. In this research, we aimed to show whether there is a benefit of such drugs given to support immunity in nursery children. Method: The research was conducted with 75 children aged 64.1±10.3 months in three different nurseries in Tuzla district of Istanbul. The research was completed with the information of 44 children (44/74, 58.6%). Whose questionnaire information could be obtained reliably. Twentyfour of them constituted the study group that used immunity-supporting drugs and the remaining 20 comprised the control group. Questionnaire forms were used to determine whether the children were using immunity-supporting drugs and the absence periods (day) due to their illness. The relationship between the number of absent school days and the use of immunity-supporting drugs was examined. Results: The mean number of school absence days was 12.4±2.5 in the study group and 6.0±4.8 in the control group. There was no significant difference in absenteeism days between the groups using of not using immunity-supporting drugs (p>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of age of onset of daycare, weight and height, and total duration of daycare. Those with adenoid hypertrophy and experiencing frequent episodes of otitis were using immunity- supporting drugs more frequently. Conclusion: As demonstrated in this study favourable effect of the medications that were defined as immunity- supporting drugs did not reduce the incidence of respiratory diseases in nursery children. The families of children with adenoid hypertrophy were using immunity- supporting drugs more frequently.