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Hospital begins second phase of lung study

Vancouver pediatrician investigates what’s making Inuit children so sick

DENISE RIDEOUT

When Vancouver pediatrician Dr. Anna Banerji completed her pediatric internship at Baffin Regional Hospital in 1995, she was alarmed to discover how many children in the region suffer from lung infections.

That discovery led her to find out what is causing the high rate of lung infection in Inuit children, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in June. The study looked at babies under six months old who were treated for lung infections between October 1997 and June 1998.

In December, Banerji was back in Iqaluit to prepare for the second part of her study. And this month, Baffin Regional Hospital will begin looking at children under five who are treated for lung infections during the coming year.

The goal of the two-part study is to determine how cigarette smoke, overcrowded living conditions and other factors affect infants in the Baffin region, and why they have among the highest rate of respiratory infection in the world.

"I started researching here about six years ago. I worked at the hospital and noticed many children had lung diseases," Banerji said in an interview in Iqaluit.

The presence of the flu, respiratory viruses and other lung infections was overwhelming, she said. "That’s not the way it is in the rest of Canada. The rates are phenomenal (here). I think people are so used to it here that they don’t realize how bad it is," she said.

During the eight months she collected data for the first part of her study, 42 infants were diagnosed with lower respiratory tract infections. Through her research, Banerji discovered that Inuit infants suffer from high rates of lung infection. They often require mechanical ventilation, and some suffer from recurrent lung disease.

Smoking was a common factor in all cases. The study showed that a majority of babies with lung infections had mothers who smoked during pregnancy, and lived in households where there were smokers present.

But according to Banerji, cigarette smoke isn’t the only culprit. She suspects poverty, overcrowded living conditions and the low rate of breast-feeding may make babies prone to lung disease.

An unidentified bacteria may also explain the high infection rates. "We believe there may be a new bacteria that’s responsible for lung disease," she said.

Banerji hopes the second phase of her study will provide a more complete look at what’s causing the high rate of lung infection.

During the next year, doctors will take nasal swabs from children who show signs of lung infection. They will send the swabs for further tests to determine what may have caused the infection.

To get an accurate picture, the results of the swab tests will be compared with those of a control group of healthy children from the Baffin region. Banerji visited Iqaluit in December to help the Public Health department to find parents willing to have their children participate in the study.

Banerji anticipates it will take a full year to get the 150 cases she needs to complete the study.

Once the tests and research has been conducted, Banerji said Nunavut’s health department can use the findings to develop promotion campaigns to prevent recurrent lung infections.

"I think in the end, this will make a difference," Banerji said.

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