@article{ref1,
title="Does childcare influence socio-economic inequalities in unintentional injury? Findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study",
journal="Journal of epidemiology and community health",
year="2010",
author="Pearce, A. and Li, Louman and Abbas, J. and Ferguson, B. and Graham, H. and Law, C.",
volume="64",
number="2",
pages="161-166",
abstract="BACKGROUND: In recent decades the proportion of infants and young children being cared for in childcare has increased. Little is known about the impact that non-parental care has on childhood unintentional injury and whether this varies by socio-economic group. METHODS: Using data from a contemporary UK cohort of children at age 9 months (N=18,114) and 3 years (N=13,718), we used Poisson regression to explore the association between childcare type (parental, informal, formal) and the risk of unintentional injury, overall and by socio-economic group. RESULTS: At age 9 months there was no overall association between childcare and injury. However, when stratifying the analyses, infants from higher socio-economic groups were less likely to be injured if they were cared for in formal childcare (compared to being cared for only by a parent), whereas those from lower social groups were more likely to be injured. At age 3 years informal childcare was associated with an increased risk of injury overall; in the stratified analyses this increased risk occurred only in less affluent groups. Formal childcare was no longer associated with injury at age 3 in any strata. CONCLUSIONS: Previous findings have shown that childcare can have a positive influence on childhood injury; however, a recent UNICEF report highlighted that a lack of access to high quality childcare could lead to a widening of inequalities. Our analyses indicate that childcare does have the potential to widen inequalities in injury; further research is required to understand why childcare has a differential impact on unintentional injury and how this might be prevented.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0143-005X",
doi="10.1136/jech.2009.092643",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech.2009.092643"
}