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Role of Air Pollution in the Development of Asthma Among Children with a History of Bronchiolitis in Infancy.

Authors :
Dearborn LC
Hazlehurst MF
Loftus CT
Szpiro AA
Carroll KN
Moore PE
Adgent MA
Barrett ES
Nguyen RH
Sathyanarayana S
LeWinn KZ
Bush NR
Kaufman JD
Karr CJ
Source :
Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) [Epidemiology] 2023 Jul 01; Vol. 34 (4), pp. 554-564. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Apr 11.
Publication Year :
2023

Abstract

Background: Infants experiencing bronchiolitis are at increased risk for asthma, but few studies have identified modifiable risk factors. We assessed whether early life air pollution influenced child asthma and wheeze at age 4-6 years among children with a history of bronchiolitis in the first postnatal year.<br />Methods: Children with caregiver-reported physician-diagnosed bronchiolitis were drawn from ECHO-PATHWAYS, a pooled longitudinal cohort from six US cities. We estimated their air pollution exposure from age 1 to 3 years from validated spatiotemporal models of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), and ozone (O 3 ). Caregivers reported children's current wheeze and asthma at age 4-6 years. We used modified Poisson regression to estimate relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), adjusting for child, maternal, and home environmental factors. We assessed effect modification by child sex and maternal history of asthma with interaction models.<br />Results: A total of 224 children had caregiver-reported bronchiolitis. Median (interquartile range) 2-year pollutant concentrations were 9.3 (7.8-9.9) µg/m 3 PM 2.5 , 8.5 (6.4-9.9) ppb NO 2 , and 26.6 (25.6-27.7) ppb O 3 . RRs (CI) for current wheeze per 2-ppb higher O 3 were 1.3 (1.0-1.7) and 1.4 (1.1-1.8) for asthma. NO 2 was inversely associated with wheeze and asthma whereas associations with PM 2.5 were null. We observed interactions between NO 2 and PM 2.5 and maternal history of asthma, with lower risks observed among children with a maternal history of asthma.<br />Conclusion: Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that exposure to modest postnatal O 3 concentrations increases the risk of asthma and wheeze among the vulnerable subpopulation of infants experiencing bronchiolitis.<br />Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest.<br /> (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1531-5487
Volume :
34
Issue :
4
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
37042935
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0000000000001613