Abstract
BACKGROUND: Childhood health problems affect healthy growth. This study aimed to assess the symptoms and diseases requiring hospital visits commonly found in children in Japan and analyze their effects on health status. METHODS: Anonymized data on 1315 children aged 6-14 years were obtained from a national survey questionnaire. The survey items addressed symptoms, disease names, and hospital visits. Associations between symptoms and other factors were examined by means of a contingency table analysis and logistic regression. RESULTS: The proportions of responses for health status were compared for each question item; significant differences were found in age group (p < 0.01), subjective symptoms (p < 0.01), hospital visits (p < 0.01), and lifestyle (p < 0.01). The proportion of responses indicating "poor" perceived health status was high among those with subjective symptoms (4.8%) and hospital visits (4.7%). From the logistic regression, significant odds ratios were found for subjective symptoms (2.10, 95% confidence interval (C.I.) 1.15-3.83) and age group (1.98, 95% C.I. 1.05-3.72). CONCLUSION: Among measures to improve quality of life from childhood, comprehensive health guidance that emphasizes understanding symptoms and includes age and living conditions is important.