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Parental history impacted offspring asthma risk up to age 20 years

A parental history of asthma and respiratory allergies increased the incidence of asthma among offspring up to age 20 years, according to a recent study.

“Starting day care between 1.5 and 3 years of age and receiving vaccinations as recommended might delay onset or even prevent asthma later in life,” the researchers wrote.

In addition, the researchers suggest avoiding tobacco smoke exposure during pregnancy to mitigate the incidence of asthma. They utilized data from the Multicenter Allergy Study that included 1,314 newborns in five German cities. The children were evaluated from birth to age 20 years. Of those in the original study, 71.6% responded at 20 years to follow-up, according to researchers.

Linus Grabenhenrich

The asthma incidence appeared reduced in patients who were vaccinated with measles, mumps and rubella vaccine/tick-borne encephalitis vaccine/BCG vaccine (adjusted HR=0.66; 95% CI, 0.47-0.93), according to the analysis across 16,257 person-years.

In addition, asthma incidence appeared greater in patients with parents who had allergic rhinitis (aHR=2.24; 95% CI, 1.67-3.02), started day care early or late (before 18 months: aHR=1.79; 95% CI, 1.03-3.1); after 3 years (aHR=1.64; 95% CI, 0.96-2.79), had mothers who smoked during pregnancy (aHR=1.79; 95% CI, 1.2-2.67), had parents with low household income (aHR=1.55; 95% CI, 1.09-2.22), and had parents with asthma (aHR=1.65; 95% CI, 1.17-2.31), researchers wrote.

Other factors such as diet, breast-feeding, pet ownership, older siblings and passive smoking were not associated with asthma, researchers said.

They recommended that future evaluations include time-to-event analysis to identify risk and protective factors for improved preventive strategies.

Disclosure: See the study for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.