Early breathing problems linked with asthma

	Tweet

Infants who experience lung disease shortly after birth have an increased risk of hospital admission for asthma in later childhood, UK investigators report. They point out that this may explain the known link between cesarean delivery and asthma.

Dr. G. C. S. Smith, at Cambridge University, and colleagues base their research on information obtained from Scottish Morbidity Records. They extracted data on infants delivered between 37 and 43 weeks of pregnancy between 1992 and 1995. This information was linked to hospital admissions with a diagnosis of asthma between 1992 and 2000.

The study group included 173,319 births, among which 2230 infants were diagnosed with early breathing problems, according to the team’s report in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Those infants who experienced lung problems at birth were at increased risk of being hospitalized for asthma. The risk was highest for babies delivered by c-section rather than vaginally.

The association was not influenced by maternal age, induction of labor or the child’s birth weight, gender or Apgar score, the authors observe.

Other studies have found increased risks of asthma among children delivered by c-section, Smith and colleagues note, but the relationship was relatively weak, and the studies lacked information on complications affecting the newborn.

“Our data suggest that the association between caesarean delivery and later asthma may be mediated” by early lung disease, the authors write, and may explain why the association between the two is so weak, since most infants delivered this way do not experience breathing problems.

SOURCE: Archives of Disease in Childhood, October 2004.

RELATED STORIES:
Helium-oxygen mix helpful in asthma, COPD attacks   Asthma hurts academics, school funding in valley   Obese mothers put children at higher risk of asthma   Exhaled nitric oxide predicts asthma relapse   Scottish smoking ban cuts childhood asthma attacks   Asthma drugs don’t help enough   Asthma   UK minorities more likely to be hospitalised for asthma   Nebulizers improve asthma outcomes in kids   Writing out feelings helps, but not for asthma   Asthma rescue not so good after combo inhaler use   Athletes with Asthma Need More Help from Their Team Trainers

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]