Early Respiratory Infections Increase Childhood Asthma Risk
This article is contradictory to previous studies that suggest that early infections are needed for a child’s immune system to properly develop. I firmly believe that childhood infections, if left to their natural course, will help that child’s immune system develop. I believe that antibiotics interfere with this natural course. Ponder this…studies have shown that early antibiotic use has been linked to asthma. It is possible that the children in this study actually received antibiotics for their infections. Maybe it was antibiotic use, and NOT the infection itself, that increased the risk of asthma.
Pediatrics 2000;106:e38 Respiratory infections early in life appear to increase the risk of having asthma at 4 years of age. The researchers examined data from 2531 children who had been followed from birth to the age of 4 years. The team found that children who had experienced respiratory infections in their first year were at higher risk of bronchial obstruction at the age of 2 and of asthma at the age of 4 years. After adjusting for confounders, lower respiratory tract infection during the first year of life yielded an odds ratio of 3.4 for asthma. Otitis media during this period was associated with an asthma odds ratio of 1.8 and croup carried an asthma odds ratio of 2.1. Having a common cold during the first 6 months of life doubled the risk of asthma at the age of 4.