רוקחות-פרמקולוגיה

Early childhood exposure to farm environment reduces asthma risk

מתוך medicontext.co.il

LONDON (Reuters Health) – Early and sustained exposure to a farm environment appears to substantially reduce the risk of developing asthma, hay fever and atopic sensitisation, according to a report in The Lancet for October 6.

Dr. Josef Riedler from Children's Hospital, Salzburg, Austria, and colleagues surveyed parents to collect data on children 6 to 13 years of age from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Data on 812 children, 319 from farm families and 493 from non-farm families, were analysed.

Among the farm children, the prevalence of asthma and hay fever was significantly lower than among non-farm children (adjusted odds ratio 0.30 for asthma and 0.43 for hay fever). Farm children were also less likely to be atopic compared with non-farm children (adjusted odds ratio 0.46). Protection from asthma was independent of atopic sensitisation, the researchers report.

Of course many non-farm children had been exposed to farming environmental factors, the authors acknowledge, but "substantial protection…was seen only in children exposed to stables, farm milk, or both in their first year of life." Both of those factors had independent protective effects, and the degree of protection was related to the duration of exposure during and after the first year of life.

Dr. Riedler's group also found that two-thirds of farm mothers had continued to farm throughout pregnancy, and in the infants of these women the rate of atopy was 8%. The rate was 19% in infants whose mothers did not farm during pregnancy, even though both groups of infants were exposed to stables and farm milk during the first year of life.

"The timing of exposure to farm characteristics in, or even before, the first year of life, and amount of duration of exposure from the first to the fifth year of life are crucial for this protective effect," the researchers summarise.

0 תגובות

השאירו תגובה

רוצה להצטרף לדיון?
תרגישו חופשי לתרום!

כתיבת תגובה

מידע נוסף לעיונך

כתבות בנושאים דומים

© ‫ e-Med
 כל הזכויות שמורות

 

התכנים המוצגים באתר זה מיועדים לאנשי צוות רפואי בלבד

אם כבר נרשמת, יש להקליד את פרטי הזיהוי שלך
עדיין לא נרשמת? באפשרותך לבצע רישום כאן
להרשמה לאתר