One in six three-year-old children in Ireland has a serious long-standing health condition, such as asthma or eczema, and these conditions are much more common among children from low socio-economic homes, a new report has found.

The report, Longstanding Health Conditions Among Three Year Old Children in the Republic of Ireland in 2011, was published by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) and is based on an analysis of data from the Growing Up in Ireland National Longitudinal Study of Children (GUI).

It defines a longstanding health condition as one that ‘has troubled the child over a period of time or that is likely to affect the child over a period of time'.

"We identified five common serious conditions that were reported by carers including a ‘longstanding illness, condition or disability', diagnosed asthma or asthma symptoms, diagnosed eczema / skin allergy, sight problems that required correction and hearing problems that required correction," noted IPH director of research, Prof Kevin Balanda.

He pointed out that over time, these conditions can cause a range of problems for children.

"Children with these conditions can have poorer quality of life, poorer social and emotional development, and poorer educational achievement. Knowing the characteristics of children with these conditions helps us develop policies and plan services for children and their families," he said.

According to the report, one in six three-year-olds - 11,000 children - are affected by these conditions, with asthma or asthma symptoms the most prevalent (6,600 children). Over 4,000 three-year-olds have ever had a sight problem that required correction, while 2,800 have diagnosed eczema/skin allergy.

Around 2,700 have also had a hearing problem that required correction.

"We also looked at the data in more detail to see which children are more likely to have a ‘longstanding illness, condition or disability'. We found that boys are 50% more likely than girls to have such conditions and children in the lowest socio-economic households are 50% more likely than those in other households to have such a condition," explained IPH research analyst, Steve Barron.

He noted that as well as this, children whose primary carer is ill ‘are over 100% more likely than those with well primary carers to have such a condition'.

Meanwhile, the research also revealed that children born with a low birth weight are 70% more likely to have sight problems compared to their normal weight peers. Furthermore, children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are 50% more likely to have sight problems than other children.

Commenting on the findings, Minister for Children, Dr James Reilly, said that the findings in relation to low birth weight and smoking during pregnancy ‘emphasise that child health promotion begins even before birth'.