Table 1

Morbidity measures and ages collected

MeasureHow coded for analysis/additional notesAge in months
5765698191103128140157166
General health
 How would you assess the health of your child in the past month? In the past year?‘Sometimes quite ill’ or ‘almost always unwell’ (categorised here together as ‘poor’) vs ‘very healthy, no problems’ or ‘healthy, but a few minor problems’XXXXXXXXX
 How many days the child had taken off school in the past year.For a range of health reasons (infections, asthma/eczema/hay fever, hospital or other investigations/admissions, other reasons). Any days off for any health reason vs noneXXXXX
Conditions and symptoms
 Has child had any of the following?Since age 3 (at 57 months); in the past 15 months (at 69 months); in the past year (all other ages)
 DiarrhoeaXXXXXXXX
 VomitingXXXXXXXX
 CoughXXXXXXXX
 High temperatureXXXXXXXX
 EaracheXXXXXXXX
 Ear discharge (pus)XXXXXXXX
 Stomach-ache(s)XXXXXXXX
 RashXXXXXXXX
 WheezingXXXXXXXX
 BreathlessnessXXXXXXXX
 Headache(s)XXXXXXXX
 ConstipationXXXXXXXX
 Lice or scabiesAsked separately from 81 months; combined for consistency in analysesXXXXXXXX
 EczemaXXXXXX
 AsthmaXXXXXX
 Hay feverXXXXXX
 Child often has pains in arms or legsXXXXXX
 Are there any foods or drinks that your child is allergic to?XXXX
 Apart from food and drink are there any other things to which child is allergic?XXXX
 Snuffles/cold*XXXXX
 Urinary infection†XXXXX
 Blood in stools‡XXXXXXXX
 Convulsions/fits‡XXXXXXXX
 Episodes of stopping breathing‡XXXXXXXX
 Convulsion, fit or seizure due to epilepsy‡XXXXX
 Accident§XXXXXXXX
Infections
 Has child had any of the following infections?Since age 3 (at 57 months); in the past 15 months (at 69 months); in the past year (all other ages)
 Chicken poxXXXXXXX
 Cold soresXXXXXXX
 Eye infectionXXXXXXX
 Ear infectionXXXXXXX
 Chest infectionXXXXXXX
 Tonsilitis/laryngitisXXXX
 InfluenzaXXXX
 Cold*XXXX
 Urinary infection†XXXXXXX
 Worm infections¶XXXXXXXX
 Measles‡XXXXXXX
 Mumps‡XXXXXXX
 Meningitis‡XXXXXXX
 Whooping cough‡XXXXXXX
 German measles‡XXXX
 Scarlet fever‡XXXX
 Glandular fever**X

  • *Reported by parent as ‘cold/snuffles’ (within conditions list) at 57, 69, 81, 91 and 103 months and ‘cold’ (within infections list) at 128, 157 and 166 months were combined and included here as ‘cold’ (categorised under infections).

  • †Reported by parent within both conditions (57–103 months) and infections (57–166 months) lists, so only results in respect of infections data included here.

  • ‡Excluded from analyses as reported in respect of very small numbers (fewer than 20 males and/or females).

  • §Excluded from analyses as out with the scope of the paper.

  • ¶Reported by parent within conditions list, but included here within infections.

  • **Excluded from analysis as only one time point.