Children born four months before the peak of cold and flu season have a greater risk of developing childhood asthma than those born at other times of year, according to new research from Vanderbilt.in the Tennessee Asthma Bronchiolitis Study, which involved an analysis of the birth and medical records of more than 95,000 children and their mothers, researchers explored the question,
of whether winter respiratory viral infections during infancy cause asthma. They asked if a relationship exists among winter virus circulation (cold and flu season) during infancy,
timing of birth, and the development of childhood asthma.Their findings indicate that autumn-born babies, who are about 4 months old when the winter virus season peaks,
have a nearly 30 percent increased risk of developing asthma compared with births during other times of the year. This risk was similar to or greater than other well-established risk factors for asthma.
The research, conducted by postdoctoral fellow Pingsheng Wu and colleagues, appears in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
This evidence holds promise for asthma prevention, as it suggests that avoiding these early respiratory infections during infancy may have long-term as well as short-term benefits,” says Dr. Tina Hartert,
MD’90, MPH’98, associate professor of medicine, allergy, pulmonary and critical care medicine and director of the Center for Asthma Research at Vanderbilt.
This is the first step; we now have to prove that preventing respiratory infections, such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the most common virus causing severe respiratory infections during infancy, prevents a common lifelong chronic disease that in most cases begins in childhood.
