Introduction: Child mortality is correlated with poverty and a lower development of geographic communities. A study of child mortality was made over 9 years in the central area of Cartago (Costa Rica).

Objetive: To determine the factors associated with the infant death and compare them with those found in the international literature.

Methodology: The factors related to child mortality were determined by comparing the more socially deprived category with the least in each variable. For this purpose the «exposed» rate was compared against the «not exposed», a difference between the rates was established, along with the prevalence ratio and the p value.

Results: The variables with a bigger risk for child death were: year of death, mother’s level of study, age at time of death, weight at birth, mother’s socioeconomic condition, complications during pregnancy, type of risk in the pregnancy, mother’s paid activities, quality of housing and father’s level of study.

Discussion: As a result a theory was validated, which states that poverty and development conditions are the biggest predictors of child death.

Infectious mastitis is a common condition during lactation and constitutes one of the main causes of undesired weaning. This condition should be considered as a relevant public health issue, since it deprives the mother-infant pair from the wide range of health benefits that breastfeeding provides. Nevertheless, human mastitis remains to date widely underestimated because human milk cultures are not routinely performed and only acute mastitis cases with local and systemic symptoms are usually reported. The present work constitutes a review about risk factors for infectious mastitis among breastfeeding women, including some aspects related to medical history of mother and infant, pregnancy, delivery and postpartum, and breastfeeding practices. In this sense, to improve the knowledge about these factors will allow to provide appropriate management during breastfeeding and develop strategies to prevent this condition, so that many child-mother pairs fully enjoy the benefits of breastfeeding.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to identify potential predisposing factors associated with human infectious mastitis.
Methods: We conducted a case-control study among breastfeeding women, with 368 cases (women with mastitis) and 148 controls. Data were collected by a questionnaire designed to obtain retrospective information about several factors related to medical history of mother and infant, different aspects of pregnancy, delivery and postpartum, and breastfeeding practices that could be involved in mastitis. Bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression model were used to examine the relationship between mastitis and these factors.
Results: The variables significantly- and independently-associated with mastitis were cracked nipples (p <0.0001), oral antibiotics during breastfeeding (p <0.0001), breast pumps (p <0.0001), topical antifungal medication during breastfeeding (p= 0.0009), mastitis in previous lactations (p= 0.0014), breast milk coming in later than 24 h postpartum (p= 0.0016), history of mastitis in the family (p= 0.0028), mother-infant separation longer than 24 h (p= 0.0027), cream on nipples (p= 0.0228) and throat infection (p= 0.0224).
Conclusions: Valuable factors related to an increased risk of infectious mastitis have been identified. This knowledge will allow practitioners to provide appropriate management advice about modifiable risk factors, such as the use of pumps or inappropriate medication. They also could identify before delivery those women at an increased risk of developing mastitis, such as those having a familial history of mastitis, and thus develop strategies to prevent this condition.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to identify potential predisposing factors associated with human infectious mastitis.
Methods: We conducted a case-control study among breastfeeding women, with 368 cases (women with mastitis) and 148 controls. Data were collected by a questionnaire designed to obtain retrospective information about several factors related to medical history of mother and infant, different aspects of pregnancy, delivery and postpartum, and breastfeeding practices that could be involved in mastitis. Bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression model were used to examine the relationship between mastitis and these factors.
Results: The variables significantly- and independently-associated with mastitis were cracked nipples (p <0.0001), oral antibiotics during breastfeeding (p <0.0001), breast pumps (p <0.0001), topical antifungal medication during breastfeeding (p= 0.0009), mastitis in previous lactations (p= 0.0014), breast milk coming in later than 24 h postpartum (p= 0.0016), history of mastitis in the family (p= 0.0028), mother-infant separation longer than 24 h (p= 0.0027), cream on nipples (p= 0.0228) and throat infection (p= 0.0224).
Conclusions: Valuable factors related to an increased risk of infectious mastitis have been identified. This knowledge will allow practitioners to provide appropriate management advice about modifiable risk factors, such as the use of pumps or inappropriate medication. They also could identify before delivery those women at an increased risk of developing mastitis, such as those having a familial history of mastitis, and thus develop strategies to prevent this condition.

Objective: To study the prevalence of consumption and attitudes towards alcohol among adolescent students in the province of Valladolid.
Methods: From a total of 18,888 students schools during the 2011-2012 school year, we selected a sample of 2,412 schoolchildren. We conducted an extensive survey of anonymous and autofilled, extracting data related to alcohol.
Results: 77.2% of students had drunk alcohol at least once. The age of starting consumption was between 13 and 14 years. 64% of respondents reported having had an acute intoxication in the past year. Drunkenness was more common in older patients, with no differences in gender. The most common pattern of consumption was the weekend, in bars or pubs, combined or mixed drinks being the most consumed beverage. 8.3% of respondents had conducted (bike or car) under the influence of alcohol, and 20.4% had mounted in car or motorcycle where the driver had been drinking. The final regression model showed that alcohol consumption is associated with consumption of friendships, smoking, drug use and other factors. Instead maintain a good relationship with the father and teachers behave as a protective factor.
Conclusions: We met with devastating results regarding alcohol consumption and drunkenness in adolescents. We consider institutional priority efforts and resources in education, to curb alcohol habit among adolescents.

Objective: To determinate the maternal risk factors in the occurrence of cleft lip and palate in Manzanillo, Cuba.
Method: A case-control study to determinate the maternal risk factors in the occurrence of nonsyndromic cleft lip and palate was done at the "Hermanos Cordové" Paediatric Teaching Hospital in Manzanillo. A consecutive sample of clinical cards of patients attended between 1998 and 2010 was obtained from the Admission Department. Each case was matched with two controls following convenience criteria. The analysis methods were the squared Chi test, odds ratio and its 95% confidence intervals. The Mantel-Haenszel test was used to perform the stratified analysis of variables.
Results: The principal risk factors found, after its magnitude, were: medication during pregnancy (OR= 2.99), mother's age ≤20 years (OR= 2.78), failure in one previous pregnancy (OR= 2.53), mother's age ≥35 years (OR= 2.50), smok­ing (OR= 2.49) and stress (OR= 1.87).
Conclusions: The risk factors obtained in this study agree with literature. Medication during pregnancy was the most important.

Objective: To evaluate parents' knowledge about asthma.

Material and methods: We delivered the Spanish version of the Newcastle Asthma Knowledge Questionnaire to parents of children with an asthma attack.

Results: The questionnaire was administered to 95 parents (average age of 32.1; 77.7% mothers). The mean score was 16/31. We did not find statistically significant between the score and severity of the asthma attack, need to stay in hospital, previous hospitalization or use of preventive treatment.

39.4% of parents identified correctly the symptoms of an asthma exacerbation. The implication of the bronchospasm and bronchial inflammation in this exacerbation was recognized by 76.6% and 63.8%, respectively. Nevertheless, 47.9 % thought that asthma is a "nervous problem", and 91.5% could not name three triggered factors.

68.1% did not know the names of two medicines useful for an asthma exacerbation, and 41.5% answered that short action 2-agonist are "control medications". 31.9% of these parents did not know about "control medications", 73.4% could not name two of these medicines, and 51.1% answered that antibiotics are an important part in the treatment of asthma.

In addition, 63.8% of these parents believed that cow's milk increases the mucosity, and 25.6% that these patients should not consume dairy produce.

Conclusions: The knowledge of these progenitors was poor; they have false beliefs about the pathogenesis of this disease. Nevertheless, we did not find statistically significant between this low knowledge and the severity of the asthma exacerbation, previous hospitalization or use of "control medications".

Following the ISAAC methodology, we studied 4,644 schoolchildren between the ages of 11 and 16 (2,435 boys and 2,209 girls).

The objective of our study is to determine the influence of the habit of tobacco smoking in the group of adolescents that at some point has suffered from asthma or from asthma symptoms.

Of the adolescents who at some point had suffered from asth¬ma 66.5% cohabited with a smoker in the home (59.5% in phase I). Of the adolescents who suffered from wheezing in the last 12 months 69% cohabited with a smoker in the home (58.2% in phase I).

Having suffered from asthma at some point (p= 0.074; OR 0.83), or having suffered from wheezing in the last 12 months (p= 0.54; OR 0.91) is not associated with the presence of a smoker in the home.

Of the adolescents studied 5.6% were smokers, and in 60.7% of the cases the parents were smokers (73.9% in phase I). Among the non-smoking adolescents, in 53.1% of the cases the parents smoked (56.8% in phase I). A significant association was found between the parents smoking and the adolescents smoking (p= 0.034).

In phase I, 8.1% smoked between 1-8 cigarettes per day, compared to 4.2% in phase III, showing significant statistical differences (p <0.05).

A significant statistical association was found between having suffered from asthma at some point and the habit of tobacco smoking (p <0.001; OR 1.75), although not between having suffered from wheezing in the last 12 months and the habit of tobacco smoking. These results are very similar to those of phase I.