Abstract
BackgroundThere is little information on potential differences in animal exposure between Finland and Russia and particularly on the effects of animal exposure on asthma among Russian children. The aim of the study was to compare the pet and farm animal exposures and to assess the relations of pre- and postnatal animal exposures to the occurrence of allergic asthma in Finnish and Russian school children.MethodsWe conducted a population-based cross-sectional study in neighbour towns on either side of the Finnish-Russian border; Imatra in Finland and Svetogorsk in Russia. The study population consisted of 512 Finnish and 581 Russian school children aged 7–16 years (response rate 79%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) related to each exposure.ResultsCurrent indoor exposure to pets was more frequent among school children in Svetogorsk than in Imatra (67.5% vs. 56.0%, P < 0.001). Finnish children were exposed more frequently to dogs, whereas Russian children to cats during childhood and to farm animals during pregnancy and infancy. The risk of self-reported allergic asthma was inversely related to indoor dog keeping ever in Finland (adjusted OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.13, 0.95), whereas in Russia the risk of allergic asthma was increased in relation to combined indoor cat exposure during infancy and currently (4.56, 1.10, 18.91). The risk of asthma was elevated in relation to contact to farm animals during pregnancy (Finland: 1.95, 0.69, 5.50; Russia: 1.90, 0.70, 5.17) and early life (Finland: 2.05, 0.78, 5.40; Russia: 1.21, 0.39, 3.73).ConclusionExposure to pets and farm animals during childhood differed significantly between Finland and Russia. Our study provides evidence that early-life exposure to cats increases the risk of asthma whereas exposure to dogs is protective. Our findings suggest that intermittent fetal and early-life exposure to farm animals increases the risk of allergic asthma in urban children visiting farms.
Highlights
There is little information on potential differences in animal exposure between Finland and Russia and on the effects of animal exposure on asthma among Russian children
Our findings suggest that intermittent fetal and early-life exposure to farm animals increases the risk of allergic asthma in urban children visiting farms
A total of 449 (88.7%) of the Finnish children lived in the town center or housing estate, 24 (4.7%) in a densely populated area and 33 (6.5%) in scattered settlements, whereas almost all the Russian children, 572 (99.5%) lived in the town center or housing estate and 3 (0.5 %) children lived in a densely populated area outside the town center
Summary
There is little information on potential differences in animal exposure between Finland and Russia and on the effects of animal exposure on asthma among Russian children. The aim of the study was to compare the pet and farm animal exposures and to assess the relations of pre- and postnatal animal exposures to the occurrence of allergic asthma in Finnish and Russian school children. We were able to identify only two previous studies that had compared animal exposures in Finland and Russia [16,17] To our knowledge, this is the first study on the effects of early intermittent contact with farm animals on development of allergic asthma among urban populations, while previous studies have compared children living in farms to those not living in farms. The aim of the study was to compare exposure to animals in Finnish and Russian children and to assess the independent and combined effects of exposure to animals prenatally, postnatally and at the time of the study in school age on the risk of allergic asthma. The distance between the two study areas is only ten kilometres, but there are large differences in cultural habits, socio-economic conditions and health care system
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