Table 2.
Distribution (%) of baseline characteristics of 152 children and their HBoV prevalence and persistence in the nasopharynx, by three positivity criteria, in groups of baseline characteristics. HBoV was regarded positive by first occurrence at baseline, at 3 months, or at 6 months visits, and the requirement for persistence was at least two consecutive positive (>100 copies/ml) samples. The Chi-squared test was used to test the associations between baseline characteristics and HBoV positivity. p-Values below 0.05 were considered significant.
| Characteristic | Distribution (%) | HBoV-positive (copies/ml) (%) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| >1000 | >10,000 | >100,000 | Persistence | ||
| Age | |||||
| <3 years (n = 125) | 82.2 | 29.6 | 17.6 | 8.0 | 9.6 |
| ≥3 years (n = 27) | 17.8 | 22.2 | 14.8 | 7.4 | 14.8 |
| Gender | |||||
| Girl (n = 60) | 39.5 | 31.7 | 20.0 | 8.3 | 10.0 |
| Boy (n = 92) | 60.5 | 26.1 | 15.2 | 7.6 | 10.9 |
| Siblings | |||||
| 0 (n = 52) | 34.2 | 26.9 | 19.2 | 9.6 | 7.7 |
| 1 (n = 62) | 40.8 | 21.0 | 12.9 | 6.5 | 9.7 |
| ≥2 (n = 38) | 25.0 | 42.1a | 21.1 | 7.9 | 15.8 |
| Exclusive breast-feeding | |||||
| <3 mo (n = 44) | 28.9 | 31.8 | 20.5 | 6.8 | 6.8 |
| ≥3 mo (n = 107) | 70.4 | 27.1 | 15.9 | 8.4 | 12.1 |
| Type of day care | |||||
| Home care (n = 64) | 42.1 | 32.8 | 18.8 | 6.3 | 6.3b |
| Small group care (n = 21) | 13.8 | 33.3 | 23.8 | 19.0 | 23.8 |
| Large-group/day-care centre (n = 67) | 44.1 | 22.4 | 13.4 | 6.0 | 10.4 |
| Use of pacifier | |||||
| No (n = 38) | 25.0 | 31.6 | 18.4. | 10.5 | 10.5 |
| Yes, previously (n = 55) | 36.2 | 29.1 | 16.4 | 7.3 | 12.7 |
| Yes, at the moment (n = 59) | 38.8 | 25.4 | 16.9 | 6.8 | 8.5 |
| Smoking in the household | |||||
| No (n = 87) | 57.2 | 24.1 | 14.9 | 10.3 | 13.8 |
| Yes (n = 65) | 42.8 | 33.8 | 20.0 | 4.6 | 6.2 |
| History of atopic diseases | |||||
| No (n = 109) | 71.7 | 27.5 | 18.3 | 8.3 | 10.1 |
| Yes (n = 43) | 28.3 | 30.2 | 14.0 | 7.0 | 11.6 |
| AOM episodes during the preceding 12 months | |||||
| <6 (n = 76) | 50.0 | 31.6 | 17.1 | 7.9 | 14.5 |
| ≥6 (n = 74) | 48.7 | 25.7 | 17.6 | 8.1 | 6.8 |
| AOM episodes during the study | |||||
| ≥1 (n = 96) | 63.2 | 28.1 | 17.7 | 5.2 | N/A |
| ≥3 (n = 25) | 16.4 | 36.0 | 20.0 | 8.0 | N/A |
| Days with respiratory symptoms during the study | |||||
| <35 (n = 50) | 32.9 | 28.0 | 18.0 | 10.0 | 8.0 |
| 35–55 (n = 51) | 33.6 | 27.5 | 15.7 | 7.8 | 15.7 |
| >55 (n = 51) | 33.6 | 29.4 | 17.6 | 5.9 | 7.8 |
a
Chi-squared test: p = 0.072.
b
Chi-squared test: p = 0.075.