Perinatal Risk Factors Contributing to Development of Childhood Asthma

Abstract

Background: Genetic susceptibility and environmental factors play crucial roles in the development of childhood asthma. It seems that asthma pathology initiates in utero. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between various perinatal exposures and events, and the later development of childhood asthma.

Method: A total of ninety children, 45 with childhood asthma and with 45 healthy controls, referred to the Allergy Clinic of Azad University Hospitals between January 2020 and January 2021 were enrolled in the study. All caregivers or parents of these children were interviewed to collect sufficient data concerning the patients’ asthma history.

Results: Gestational age, gender, low birth weight, delivery mode, maternal pre-eclampsia, maternal smoking during pregnancy, smoking exposure during the neonatal period, antibiotic prescription in the neonatal period, acetaminophen use in the neonatal period, assisted ventilation and oxygen therapy, neonatal icterus, neonatal respiratory infection, chronic pulmonary disease of prematurity, meconium aspiration, birth order as the first-born child and parental history of allergy were assessed. Among these, the use of antibiotics, oxygen therapy, respiratory infections during the neonatal period, meconium aspiration during labor, and history of allergy in first-grade relatives were the most predictable separate factors, demonstrating the key role of the perinatal period in the development of childhood asthma.

Conclusion: To conclude, although previous studies mostly suggested the causal effects of modifiable behaviors or exposures on the development of childhood asthma, the risk factors in the present study were mostly genetic influences, postnatal infections or obstetrics events or their management, which were inevitable in the process of labor.