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Adverse childhood experiences increase a child's risk for asthma

Adverse childhood experiences such as living with a divorced parent or someone with an alcohol or drug problem may increase the risk for developing pediatric asthma, according to study results.

“What surprised us was that among the children who had been exposed to five or more [adverse childhood experiences], 25% of parents or guardians reported that their child had an asthma diagnosis – compared with only 12% for those with zero [adverse childhood experiences],” Robyn D. Wing, MD, of Brown University in Rhode Island, said in a press release. “The data showed that the more [adverse childhood experiences] a child is exposed to, the greater the probability he or she will develop asthma.”

Wing and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study of data from the 2011 to 2012 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) to come to their conclusion.

The NSCH, a nationally representative sample of children (n = 92,472) aged 0 to 17 years, represents information from parents and guardians on the health of a randomly selected child in their households.

Children with one adverse childhood experience (ACE) (unadjusted OR = 1.58; 95% CI, 1.43-1.75) had an increase in reporting an asthma diagnosis when compared with children with no ACE. The odds of reporting lifetime asthma in children increased as the number of ACEs increased. Children with at least five ACEs (OR = 2.42; 95% CI, 1.79-3.27) were more than two times more likely to report asthma compared with children with no ACEs.

Hispanic children were also more likely to have higher odds of developing lifetime asthma for the same number of ACEs when compared with non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black children.

Hispanic children exposed to four ACEs were four times more likely to have increases of lifetime asthma (aOR = 4.46; 95% CI, 2.46-8.08) while non-Hispanic white children exposed to the same number had a slight increase odds of lifetime asthma (aOR = 1.19; 95% CI, 0.8-1.79).

The researchers did indicate there were some limitations to the study. Because the NSCH is based on parent and guardian subjective reports, the researchers write there could be recall bias. A second limitation to the study is ACEs are sensitive topics subject to social desirability reporting bias that may lead to a misclassification of risk exposure.

“Respondents could have been reluctant to admit that their child was exposed to ACEs in the home, such as exposure to domestic violence or living with someone with an alcohol or drug problem,” the researchers wrote. – by Ryan McDonald

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.