Abstract
BackgroundPreterm birth can interrupt lung development in utero and is associated with early life factors, which adversely affects the developing respiratory system. Studies on preterm birth and asthma risk are comparatively sparse and the results are not consistent.MethodsMultivariate analyses were performed on a cross-sectional data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) collected in 2011 to 2012. The NSCH was a nationally representative telephone survey sponsored by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau and conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. A cross-sectional analysis using data from the US on 90,721 children was conducted to examine the relationship between preterm birth and asthma risk.ResultsA total of 90,721 children under 17 years were included and 12% of the children were reported as preterm birth. The prevalence of diagnosed asthma was 15%, with a male to female ratio of 1.26:1. Children who were born preterm were 1.64 times (95% confidence interval: 1.45–1.84) more likely to develop asthma compared with those who were born term after controlling for confounders. Similarly, children who were low birth weight were 1.43 times (95% confidence interval: 1.25–1.63) more likely for asthma, and the odds ratio increased to 1.77 for those both preborn and low birth weight. Child’s gender, race/ethnicity, age, family structure, family income levels, and household smoking were significantly associated with the odds of reported asthma.ConclusionsPreterm birth was associated with increased risk of asthma among US children, supporting the notion that preterm birth may play a critical role in asthma development.
Highlights
Preterm birth can interrupt lung development in utero and is associated with early life factors, which adversely affects the developing respiratory system
What’s more, they come from family who were more likely to report very often difficult to pay for bills (8.7% compared to 6.7%). 27% of children who were born preterm lived in households with someone who used of cigarettes, cigars, or pipe tobacco, while 24% of those were born at term; 16% of children lived in a neighborhood with litter or garbage on the street or sidewalk, there was no difference between pretermand term-born children (Table 1)
Ref Reference *p < 0.05 children who were preterm birth were 1.67 times more likely to develop asthma compared with those who were born at term
Summary
Preterm birth can interrupt lung development in utero and is associated with early life factors, which adversely affects the developing respiratory system. A possible mechanism to explain this association is that preterm birth is related to a deficit in the structure and function of the lung, which may increase the risk of subsequent asthma development [11]. A prospective cohort study showed that a doctor’s diagnosis of asthma and using of asthma inhalers were significantly more prevalent among preterm birth children than controls [12]. Another retrospective cohort study showed an important association between later preterm birth (between 34 weeks and 36 weeks) and incidences of asthma [13]. Effect estimates from a meta-analysis of studies on the association between preterm birth and the risk of asthma showed that infants born preterm (defined as < 37 weeks of gestation) could have up to 36% greater risk of asthma than infants born at term [14]
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