Morbidity and mortality from childhood asthma have been increasing in all developed countries over the past three decades, including in the United States. Numerous theories have been advanced to explain this asthma epidemic, but no single theory has held up to careful scrutiny. Recent international studies have suggested a relatively strong causal relationship between increased risk of childhood asthma and exposure to antibiotics during childhood, especially during the first year of life. The increased asthma risk was seen whether antibiotics were used to treat respiratory or non-respiratory infections. While these previous studies are suggestive, there are significant methodologic concerns about each study. A major concern with most of the studies is their reliance on retrospective recall of antibiotic exposure data from parents years after the exposure. We have data from a prospective, NIH-funded study of the relationship between early environmental exposures and the development of asthma in a birth cohort of children followed to an average 6.7 years of age. At 6.7 years, 482 (58%) of the original 833 children were clinically examined as part of this Childhood Asthma Study (CAS). In addition to clinical histories, the 6- to 7- year clinical examination included skin tests, IgE antibody tests, pulmonary function tests and methacholine challenge. At entry all of the CAS children were within the Health Alliance Plan (HAP) HMO. The current proposal is based on combining the CAS data set with pharmacy data extracted from the HAP data archives. This will allow us to examine possible relationships between antibiotic use, as determined by prescriptions filled, and asthma at 6 to 7 years of age. While not strictly a prospective study, these methods will avoid many of the potential sources of bias found in previous studies. We will also be able to evaluate any relationships between antibiotic exposure and asthma for confounding by other risk factors such as bedroom allergen levels, pet ownership, cigarette smoke exposure, and parental history of asthma or allergy. The proposed study is entirely separate from the goals of the original grant which did not consider antibiotic use as a potential risk factor for asthma or allergy. This new analysis will allow a much more rigorous examination of the possible relationship between early antibiotic use and asthma in a population of American children.
| Simon, Michael R; Havstad, Suzanne L; Wegienka, Ganesa R et al. (2008) Risk factors associated with transient wheezing in young children. Allergy Asthma Proc 29:161-5 |
| Ownby, Dennis R; Peterson, Edward L; Nelson, Dorothy et al. (2007) The relationship of physical activity and percentage of body fat to the risk of asthma in 8- to 10-year-old children. J Asthma 44:885-9 |
| Jiang, Hongyu; Harrington, David; Raby, Benjamin A et al. (2006) Family-based association test for time-to-onset data with time-dependent differences between the hazard functions. Genet Epidemiol 30:124-32 |
| Johnson, Christine Cole; Ownby, Dennis R; Alford, Sharon Hensley et al. (2005) Antibiotic exposure in early infancy and risk for childhood atopy. J Allergy Clin Immunol 115:1218-24 |
| Alford, Sharon Hensley; Zoratti, Edward; Peterson, Edward L et al. (2004) Parental history of atopic disease: disease pattern and risk of pediatric atopy in offspring. J Allergy Clin Immunol 114:1046-50 |
| Williams, L Keoki; Peterson, Edward L; Ownby, Dennis R et al. (2004) The relationship between early fever and allergic sensitization at age 6 to 7 years. J Allergy Clin Immunol 113:291-6 |
| Ownby, Dennis R; Johnson, Christine C (2003) Does exposure to dogs and cats in the first year of life influence the development of allergic sensitization? Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol 3:517-22 |
| Lange, Christoph; DeMeo, Dawn; Silverman, Edwin K et al. (2003) Using the noninformative families in family-based association tests: a powerful new testing strategy. Am J Hum Genet 73:801-11 |
| Johnson, Christine Cole; Ownby, Dennis R; Zoratti, Edward M et al. (2002) Environmental epidemiology of pediatric asthma and allergy. Epidemiol Rev 24:154-75 |
