Parental atopic dermatitis, asthma may be linked to atopic dermatitis in offspring
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Asthma or atopic dermatitis among parents may predict atopic dermatitis risk in their offspring, according to recent findings.
“The objective of this study was to assess the association between parental atopy and AD development by 2 years,” Cathal O’Connor, MD, of pediatrics and child health at Cork University Hospital and the INFANT Research Centre at University College Cork in Ireland, and colleagues wrote.
The current study was a secondary analysis of 2,183 individuals from the BASELINE Birth Cohort study.
After parents reported the presence of atopy at 2 months, infants were examined at 6, 12 and 24 months.
The researchers used the database to gather information on skin barrier function, early skincare, parental atopy and AD.
The final analysis included 1,505 children with full data on AD status from the exams at the aforementioned time points.
Results showed that at 6 months, 18.6% of the cohort had AD. The rates of AD were 15.2% at 12 months and 16.5% by 24 months.
The key aim of the multivariate analysis was to determine the impact of maternal and paternal atopy or asthma on infant AD at the three time points. When the mother had AD, there was a more than 1.5-fold risk for infant AD at 6 months (adjusted OR = 1.57; 95% CI, 1.09-2.25). This likelihood increased by 12 months (OR = 1.66; 95% CI, 1.12-2.46).
The analysis also included AD risk for infants of fathers with AD at 6 months (OR = 1.9; 95% CI, 1.28-2.83) and 24 months (OR = 1.85; 95% CI, 1.2-2.85).
Among mothers with asthma, the odds ratios for AD were 1.76 (95% CI, 1.21-2.56) at 6 months and 1.75 (95% CI, 1.16-2.63) at 12 months. For paternal asthma, the odds ratios were 1.7 (95% CI, 1.19-2.45) at 6 months, 1.86 (95% CI, 1.26-2.76) at 12 months and 1.99 (95% CI, 1.34-2.97) at 24 months.
The only association between parental rhinitis and infant AD was observed for maternal rhinitis at 24 months (OR = 1.79; 95% CI, 1.15–2.8).
“Given the recent interest in early intervention to prevent AD and other allergic diseases, enhanced early identification of infants at risk of AD is increasingly important,” the researchers concluded. “This study provides a detailed analysis of the risk of AD associated with parental atopy at multiple specific time points in early life, which may help to risk stratify infants to optimize early interventions for prevention or early treatment of AD.”