Phenotypes of asthma in mothers have an influence on asthma phenotypes in children

Abstract

Background. Children born from mothers with bronchial asthma are the most vulnerable group for development of allergic diseases including asthma. Aim. We want to explore asthma phenotypes in children from mothers with various asthma phenotypes. Materials. We have examined 123 pregnant women with bronchial asthma and their newburns. The average age of mothers was 27.7±5.2 years. Most mothers developed the disease before the age of 16 (91 mothers; 74%); 32 mothers got ill when they were over 16 years of age (26%) (“child” and “adult” bronchial asthma respectively). Also we monitored the health of 123 children born from these mothers: 67 boys (54.5%) and 56 girls (45.5%). Over 70% of the children reached the age of 7-9 by the end of the observation period. Results. In children with asthma born by caesarean section development of bronchial asthma was 1.5 times more often than in children born naturally. In children who had been breastfed for more over 4 months was significantly lower incidence of atopic dermatitis than in children who fed at the milk mixtures (14% and 32.7% respectively; χ2-4,5042, p=0,033). Children born from mothers with “child” asthma phenotype more often developed bronchial asthma by the age of 7 (p=0.034, χ2=4,4929). Children born from mothers with “child” asthma phenotype run a 3-fold higher risk of developing bronchial asthma than those whose mothers had “adult” asthma phenotype (OR = 3,042[CI:1,013 – 9,132]). Conclusion. The obtained results have confirmed the significance of hereditary load, maternal asthma phenotypes, mode of child delivery, and breastfeeding for development in children allergic diseases including asthma.