Researchers from the UCL Institute of Child Health, the York and Humber Public Health Observatory and the University of York found that children aged three who were from poorer families and whose parents were less educated were more likely to sustain unintentional injuries in informal care than children from more affluent backgrounds.
The report's findings are based on the long-term health and wellbeing of almost 14,000 children born in the UK between 2000 and 2002 who are being tracked as part of the Millennium Cohort Study.
Parents were asked about their childcare arrangements when their child was nine months and three years old, and if they had taken their child to see a doctor regarding an unintentional injury.
Childcare arrangements were categorised as only being cared for by a parent or regularly using informal or formal childcare. The mother's social and economic background and levels of deprivation were also assessed.
The study revealed that, at the age of nine months, almost half of all children were being cared for by a parent, a figure that fell to around 40 per cent at the age of three. The use of formal childcare arrangements increased between birth and three, while the use of informal arrangements fell at nine months.
The authors said, 'Our findings show that the association of childcare with injury varies by social group. Efforts focused on increasing awareness and improving the safety of home environments of informal carers living in deprived areas could have a beneficial effect for children cared for by friends, neighbours and relatives.'
Further information
'Does childcare influence socioeconomic inequalities in unintentional injury?' is in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health and at http://jech.bmj.com.