Some studies indicate that children born to younger mothers are at a higher risk of wheezing and asthma.  To investigate the maternal age associated with asthma in children, a case-control study on 310 asthmatic and 310 non-asthmatic children aged 3 to 4 years was organized during a one-year period.  A questionnaire was used to obtain information about the child’s personal susceptibility factor...

BACKGROUND Existing evidence on stress and asthma prevalence has disproportionately focused on pregnancy and postpregnancy early life stressors, largely ignoring the role of childhood adversity as a risk factor. Childhood adversity (neglect, stressful living conditions and maltreatment) may influence asthma prevalence through mechanisms on the hypothalamic-pituitary axis. METHODS Data from th...

Asthma, one of the commonest childhood disorders, is frequently underdiagnosed and inappropriately treated. Its diagnostic criteria have undergone considerable revision and definition recently, there is evidence that both the prevalence and severity of asthma are increasing in the west, It is possible that environmental factors may be responsible for this change and several studies from the dev...

BACKGROUND Maternal diet during pregnancy may affect childhood allergy and asthma. OBJECTIVE We sought to examine the associations between maternal intake of common childhood food allergens during early pregnancy and childhood allergy and asthma. METHODS We studied 1277 mother-child pairs from a US prebirth cohort unselected for any disease. Using food frequency questionnaires administered ...

The hygiene hypothesis states that childhood asthma develops as a result of decreased exposure to infectious agents during infancy and early childhood. This results in the persistence of the neonatal T helper lymphocyte 2 immunophenotype, thereby predisposing the child to atopic disease. While multiple studies support the hygiene hypothesis in asthma ontogeny, the evidence remains inconclusive;...

OBJECTIVE Whether vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency are associated with childhood asthma remains unclear. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to summarize the evidence from epidemiological studies of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency and the risk of childhood asthma. METHODS Pertinent studies were identified by searching of PubMed and Web of Knowledge. The random effect model was use...

Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based genome-wide association studies have revealed that polymorphisms of the ORM1-like 3 (ORMDL3) gene are associated with childhood asthma. We investigated genetic associations of SNPs in and around the ORMDL3 gene with childhood asthma in a Chinese population. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral venous blood drawn from 152 subjects with childhood as...

This study aimed to investigate the association between ADAM metallopeptidase domain 33 (ADAM33) gene polymorphisms and the risk of childhood asthma. The relevant studies about the relationship between ADAM33 gene polymorphisms and childhood asthma were searched from electronic databases and the deadline of retrieval was May 2016. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of ADAM33 (rs511898, ...

AIM This paper explores the possible association between antibiotics prescribed in infancy and allergic disorders, mainly eczema and asthma, in childhood. BACKGROUND No-one fully understands why childhood asthma and eczema have become so common. Some authorities suggest that there may be an association between eczema and asthma and antibiotics prescribed in childhood; however, others disagree...

Background: Allergic diseases including asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR) and eczema are common chronic diseases in children. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of asthma, AR and eczema in Sari, Iran. Methods: This study was carried out on all elementary schools selected as a cluster from February 2010 to July 2010 in Sari, North of Iran. A questionnaire was provided accordi...