Housing standards, social group, and respiratory infections in children of Upernavik, Greenland.

During one year, contacts with the health service due to respiratory infections--including diseases of ear, nose, and throat--were studied in the 310 children of Upernavik town. 166 contacts were recorded. Children from low socio-economic groups had been expected to have a higher overall contact rate than other children, but this did not prove to be so. The disease pattern of these children was characterized by a low level of contacts due to certain acute respiratory infections and a high level of contacts due to chronic purulent otitis media, compared with children from higher socio-economic groups. The differences did not reach statistical significance, however.