Abstract
Inverse associations have been found between exposure to bio-contaminants and asthma and allergies. The aim of this study was to prospectively assess whether early exposure to bio-contaminants in dust is associated with asthma and allergy later in childhood among children from (sub)-urban areas.
In subsets of three European birth cohorts (PIAMA: n=553; INMA: n=481; and LISAplus: n=395), endotoxin, (1,3,)-β-d-glucan and extracellular polysaccharide were measured in dust from living rooms shortly after birth. Current asthma at 6 years and 10 years of age and ever asthma up to 10 years of age were assessed by parental questionnaires. Specific IgE levels at 8 years (PIAMA) and 10 years (LISAplus) were available. Adjusted, cohort-specific logistic regression analyses were performed.
Higher endotoxin concentrations were positively associated with current asthma at 6 years of age in PIAMA (adjusted OR 1.96, 95% CI 1.07–3.58), but were inversely related with ever asthma up to 10 years of age in INMA (adjusted OR 0.39, 95% CI 0.16–0.94). No associations with asthma were found for LISAplus. No associations were observed with atopic sensitisation in all cohorts. All associations with (1,3)-β-d-glucan and extracellular polysaccharide were statistically nonsignificant.
The suggested immunological mechanisms of early exposure to bio-contaminants with regards to asthma and allergy might be different for children growing up in (sub)-urban environments.
Abstract
Immunological mechanisms of early exposure to bio-contaminants might be different in children from urban environments http://ow.ly/AeRi4
Footnotes
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Support statement: This work was supported by the European Commission as part of HITEA (grant agreement no. 211488 under the Seventh Framework Programme, topic ENV.2007.1.2.1.1). The first 2 years of the LISAplus study were mainly supported by grants from the Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology, Helmholtz Zentrum Munich (former GSF; Neuherberg, Germany), the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ (Leipzig, Germany) and the Research Institute at Marien-Hospital Wesel, Paediatric Practice (Bad Honnef, Germany). The 4, 6 and 10-year follow-up examinations of the LISAplus study were covered by the respective budgets of the partners involved (Helmholtz Zentrum Munich (former GSF), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, the Research Institute at Marien-Hospital Wesel, Paediatric Practice and the IUF – Leibniz-Research Institute for Environmental Medicine at the University of Düsseldorf (Dusseldorf, Germany)) and by a grant from the Federal Ministry for Environment (IUF Düsseldorf, FKZ 20462296). The PIAMA study is supported by the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (The Hague, The Netherlands), the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (The Hague), the Netherlands Asthma Fund (Amersfoort), the Netherlands Ministry of Spatial Planning, Housing, and the Environment (The Hague), and the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport (The Hague). The INMA-Menorca study was funded by Fondo de Investigacion Sanitaria, ISCIII, Ministerio de Sanidad y Servicios Sociales (Madrid, Spain; grants 97/0588, 00/0021-2, G03/176, PI061756 and PS0901958), EC Contract QLK4-CT-2000-00263 and Fundacio Roger Torne (Barcelona, Spain).
Conflict of interest: None declared.
- Received October 31, 2013.
- Accepted August 6, 2014.
- Copyright ©ERS 2015