FREQUENCY OF ASTHMA IN CHILDREN BORN BY CESAREAN SECTION COMPARED TO THOSE DELIVERED VAGINALLY

Abstract

Background: Cesarean sections (CS) have been reported to increase the risk of asthma in offsprings. This may be due to that infants delivered by CS are unexposed to vaginal flora, according to the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ Objective: Investigating the risk effects of CS on inducing childhood asthma. Patients and Methods: A case-control study was performed on 400 (case = 200, control = 200) children aged 3-12 years referred to outpatient clinics of Al-Hussein University Hospital, the study was conducted from May 2015 to May 2016 . A questionnaire was administered to obtain a demographic, environmental, and clinical history. Sex, mode of delivery, birth weight, age, parental smoking and exclusive breast feeding matching with cases were carried out during sampling for controlling of possible cofounding effects of these factors for asthma. Logistic regression models were fitted to compute odds ratios (ORs), and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Risk of being diagnosed with bronchial asthma was significantly higher in children born by Cesarean section (OR=1.8), children in urban areas (OR=1.73), children with history of parental smoking (OR=1.64), low birth weight (OR=2.01) and non exclusive breast feeding (OR=2.12). On performing multiple stepwise logistic regression analysis,CS delivery was the most significant risk factor followed by urban residence followed by non exclusive breast feeding. Conclusion: Birth by cesarean section increased the risk for asthma in childhood