Early exposure to pets does not increase children’s risk of allergies

	Tweet

A new study published in the journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy reveals that keeping a dog or cat in the home does not increase children’s risk of becoming allergic to the pets.

Parents of young children frequently want to know whether keeping a dog or cat in their home will increase the risk of their children becoming allergic to their pets.

Led by Ganesa Wegienka, MS, PhD, of the Department of Public Health Sciences, Henry Ford Hospital, researchers followed a group of children from birth until they reached adulthood. Periodic contact was made with the parents and the children to collect information about exposure to cats and dogs. 

At age 18 years, 565 study participants supplied blood samples to the researchers, who measured antibodies to dog and cat allergens in the samples.

Results found that being exposed to the specific animal in the first year of life was the most important exposure period, and the exposure appeared protective in some groups.

Young men whose families had kept an indoor dog during their first year of life had about half the risk of becoming sensitized to dogs compared to those whose families did not keep a dog in the first year of life.

Both men and women were about half as likely to be sensitized to cats if they had lived with a cat in the first year of life, compared to those who did not live with cats.

“This research provides further evidence that experiences in the first year of life are associated with health status later in life, and that early life pet exposure does not put most children at risk of being sensitized to these animals later in life,” Wegienka concludes.

###

Contact: Amy Molnar

Wiley-Blackwell

RELATED STORIES:
Drug allergy discovery   Kids on cow farms may have fewer allergies   Researchers identify new regulator in allergic diseases   Low serum adiponectin levels predict future risk for asthma in women   Test to improve peanut allergy diagnosis   Anti-IgE Drug Speeds Up Allergy Therapy   Moms Mistakenly Claim Own Food Allergies   Food Allergy Common in Joint Disorder   Molecule That Offers Hope For Future Allergy Treatments Discovered   Adding Proton Pump Inhibitor to Treat Poorly Controlled Asthma in Children Does Not Improve Symptoms   Accelerated infant growth increases risk of future asthma symptoms in children   Getting a Cat Ups Allergy Risk in Adults

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 + ]