First-Year Antibiotics Exposure in Relation to Childhood Asthma, Allergies, and Airway Illnesses
Open Access
- 7 August 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Vol. 17 (16), 5700
- https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17165700
Abstract
Background: Associations of early antibiotics exposures with childhood asthma, allergies, and airway illnesses are debated. Objectives: We aimed to investigate associations of first-year antibiotics exposure with childhood asthma, allergies, and airway illnesses. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among preschoolers in Shanghai, China during 2011–2012. A questionnaire regarding household environment and lifestyles and childhood health outcomes was reported by the child’s parents. Results: In total, 13,335 questionnaires (response rate: 85.3%) were analyzed and 3049 (24.1%) children had first-year antibiotics exposure. In the multivariate logistic regression analyses, first-year antibiotics exposure had significant associations with the higher odds of lifetime-ever pneumonia (adjusted OR, 95% CI: 2.15, 1.95–2.37), croup (1.46, 1.24–1.73), wheeze (1.44, 1.30–1.60), asthma (1.38, 1.19–1.61), food allergy (1.29, 1.13–1.46), and allergic rhinitis (1.23, 1.07–1.41), and as well as current (one year before the survey) common cold (≥3 times) (1.38, 1.25–1.52), dry cough (1.27, 1.13–1.42), atopic dermatitis (1.25, 1.09–1.43), wheeze (1.23, 1.10–1.38), and rhinitis symptoms (1.15, 1.04–1.26). These associations were different in children with different individual characteristics (age, sex, family history of atopy, and district) and other early exposures (breastfeeding, home decoration, pet-keeping, and environmental tobacco smoke). Conclusions: Our results indicate that first-year antibiotics exposure could be a strong risk factor for childhood pneumonia, asthma, allergies, and their related symptoms. The individual characteristics and other early exposures may modify effects of early antibiotic exposure on childhood allergies and airway illnesses.Funding Information
- National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC0702700)
This publication has 54 references indexed in Scilit:
- Ten cities cross-sectional questionnaire survey of children asthma and other allergies in ChinaChinese Science Bulletin, 2013
- Perinatal antibiotic treatment affects murine microbiota, immune responses and allergic asthmaGut Microbes, 2013
- Improving the Linkages between Air Pollution Epidemiology and Quantitative Risk AssessmentEnvironmental Health Perspectives, 2011
- Antibiotics and asthma medication in a large register‐based cohort study – confounding, cause and effectClinical & Experimental Allergy, 2011
- Prenatal or Early-Life Exposure to Antibiotics and Risk of Childhood Asthma: A Systematic ReviewPEDIATRICS, 2011
- Infant antibiotic use and wheeze and asthma risk: a systematic review and meta-analysisEuropean Respiratory Journal, 2011
- Antibiotic use in early life and development of allergic diseases: respiratory infection as the explanationClinical & Experimental Allergy, 2010
- Antibiotic use in infancy and symptoms of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, and eczema in children 6 and 7 years old: International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood Phase IIIJournal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2009
- Antibiotic Use in Children Is Associated With Increased Risk of AsthmaPEDIATRICS, 2009
- Wheezing Rhinovirus Illnesses in Early Life Predict Asthma Development in High-Risk ChildrenAmerican Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2008