This paper describes risk factors associated with infectious disease (ID) hospitalisation in infancy within a cohort of 6,846 New Zealand children, born in 2009–2010. In multivariable logistic regression analyses involving all children, factors associated with ID hospitalisation in the first year of life included Māori (OR 1.49; 95% CI, 1.17 to 1.89) or Pacific (OR 2.51; 95% CI, 2.00 to 3.15) versus European maternal ethnicity, male gender (OR 1.32; 95% CI, 1.13 to 1.55), low birthweight (OR 1.94; 95% CI, 1.39 to 2.66), exclusive breastfeeding for <4 months (OR 1.22; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.43), maternal experience of healthcare racism (OR 1.60; 95% CI, 1.19 to 2.12), household deprivation (most vs least deprived quintile of households; OR 1.50; 95% CI, 1.12 to 2.02), daycare attendance (OR 1.43; 95% CI, 1.12 to 1.81) and maternal smoking (OR 1.55; 95% CI, 1.26 to 1.91). In separate analyses of Māori and Pacific children, factors associated with ID hospitalisation of Māori infants were high household deprivation (OR 2.16; 95% CI, 1.06 to 5.02) and maternal smoking (OR 1.48; 95% CI, 1.02 to 2.14); for Pacific infants, the factors included delayed immunisation (OR 1.72; 95% CI, 1.23 to 2.38), maternal experience of healthcare racism (OR 2.20; 95% CI, 1.29 to 3.70) and maternal smoking (OR 1.59; 95% CI, 1.10 to 2.29).
