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Gene risk assessment could predict asthma duration in children
Genetic risk assessments could help predict which children with asthma are more likely to outgrow the condition and those of which will continue having symptoms as they grow older, according to recent study findings published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
“[Genome-wide association study] discoveries for asthma provided novel information about inherited risk that was not captured by family history of asthma; the genetic risk score made independent, additive contributions to predictions models over and above family history,” researchers wrote. “Both genotype-based and family-based risk measures predicted asthma onset and persistence, but genotype was a more consistent predictor of the biological characteristics of asthma.”
The prospective longitudinal study included 880 participants enrolled in a population-based long-running birth cohort. Researchers used data on asthma onset, asthma persistence, atopy, airway hyper-responsiveness, incompletely reversible airflow obstruction, and asthma-related school and work absenteeism and hospital admission obtained during 38 years of follow-up.
Researchers found that participants at higher genetic risk developed asthma earlier in life than those with lower genetic risk (HR=1.12; 95% CI, 1.01-1.26). Participants with childhood-onset asthma who have a higher genetic risk were more likely to develop lifelong-persistent asthma than those with a lower genetic risk (RR=1.36; 95% CI, 1.14-1.63).
Daniel Belsky
They also found that participants with a higher genetic risk were more likely to have atopy (RR=1.07; 95% CI, 1.01-1.14); airway hyper-responsiveness (RR=1.16; 95% CI, 1.03-1.32); incompletely reversible airflow obstruction (RR=1.28; 95% CI, 1.04-1.57); miss school or work (incidence rate ratio=1.38; 95% CI, 1.02-1.86); and be admitted to the hospital (HR=1.38; 95% CI, 1.07-1.79) than those with a lower genetic risk.
“Although our study revealed that genetic risks can help to predict which childhood-onset asthma cases remit and which become life-course persistent, genetic risk prediction for asthma is still in its infancy,” study researcher Daniel Belsky, PhD, of Duke University Medical Center, said in a press release. “As additional risk genes are discovered, the value of genetic assessments is likely to improve. But our predictions are not sufficiently sensitive or specific to support their use in routine clinical practice.”
Disclosure: The study was funded in part by the Jacobs Foundation, the New Zealand Asthma Foundation, Otago Medical Research Foundation, US National Institute on Aging, and UK Medical Research Council.
