Early child care exposure and risk of childhood asthma

Article Outline

• Copyright

Gurka et al from the University of Virginia recently completed a study of 939 children and their families enrolled in the National Institute of Child Health and Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. They assessed risk factors for persistent or late onset asthma by 15 years of age and found that the number of children in the child care environment when the child was a toddler was significantly associated with the odds of asthma, even after adjusting for respiratory illnesses and other risk factors. The fewer the children exposed to as toddlers, the higher of the probability of persistent or late onset asthma by age 15. This supports the theory of a protective effect of exposure to other children at an early age.

This paper is accompanied by an editorial by McBride from the Children's Hospital of Akron. He comments on the significance of these findings and their relationship to the so-called hygiene hypothesis. He also discusses the importance to the clinician caring for children with asthma.

Article page 781▸

Editorial page 771▸