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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jul 15.
Published in final edited form as: J SOGC. 2001 Jan;23(1):54–68.

TABLE 3. INFANTS AND TODDLERS: SPECIFIC HEALTH PROBLEMS OF SIGNIFICANCE.

“Infants are regarded by their elders, family, and community as gifts from the Creator.” 65

Respiratory tract infections

  • Bronchitis reported by family in 9% of newborns to age 5 (FNIHS) versus 3% NLSCY all ages16

  • In Nunavik, one baby was hospitalized for bronchitis and pneumonia during the first year of life for every three babies born (32% incidence)14

  • Pneumonia was the fourth leading cause of death age 28 days to one yr among Aboriginal peoples in the United States67
Asthma

  • 5% (FNIHS age 0 to 5) vs. 11% NLSCY all ages16
Otitis media

  • 58–60% of “Alaska native” and First Nations children living in the southwestern United States respectively had at least one episode of acute otitis media in the first year of life68

  • Also increased rates of complications such as chronic perforation and hearing loss: 15–60 times the complication rate in the non-Native population68

  • “A significant trend towards higher rates of ear problems in the youngest age group was observed”16

  • Most infants in Nunavik suffer at least one episode of otitis media by age six months14
Gastroenteritis and colitis

  • third leading cause of hospitalizations among Indian and Alaska Native infants, American data, 199469
SIDS

  • three to four times Canadian rate6,48,69
Accidental injury

  • four times greater rate of death from injury6,16
High birth weight

  • 17% of Aboriginal infants > 4000 grams vs. 12% of Canadian infants16
Dental caries

  • incidence of baby bottle tooth decay averages > 50 percent52,55
Fetal alcohol syndrome/fetal alcohol effect

  • incidence rate 2.2 to 17.9 per thousand live births in the United States69

  • inconclusively increased prevalence in Canada6
Developmental dysplasia of the hip

  • 35–600 per 1000 in Island Lake, Manitoba vs. 2–19 per 1000 in North America70
Bacterial meningitis

  • one in thirty infants developed bacterial meningitis during the first year of life along the Hudson coast of Nunavik between 1980–1990 with prevalence rate of 543/100,000 for children under the age of 5 years14

  • > 400 cases per 100,000 in southwestern Alaska 1970s71 with prevalence subsequently decreasin- with HIB immunization71
Iron deficiency anemia

  • 31.9% and 43% respectively of Aboriginal infants in two regional studies had hemoglobin levels of < 110 g/L72,73

  • 60% of babies aged nine to fourteen months in Nunavik had hemoglobin levels < 110 g/L14
Skin conditions77
Vitamin D deficient rickets 40 cases of rickets among First Nations and Inuit infants and children age one month to 49 months documented in Manitoba between 1972 and 198474