Evaporative cooling and other home factors and lower respiratory tract illness during the first year of life.

The authors used data from the Children's Respiratory Study in Tuscon, Arizona, USA to study the relationship between home environment and lower respiratory tract illness in infants. Health babies were recruited at birth. In the first year, 196 babies (21%) had wheezing LRI and 60 (6%) had non-wheezing LRI. Wheezing risk was higher for babies with evaporative home cooling (24%). Non-wheezing LRI linked with parents' rating of neighbourhood dust levels. There was no relation to type of home heating, cooking fuel, or pets.