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Atopy, passive smoking, respiratory infections and asthma among children from kindergarten and elementary school
Sandra Aparecida Ribeiro1, Tatiana Furuyama, Simone Schenkman
1Departamento de Medicina Preventiva, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil. sandrarib@medprev.epm.br
Insights
Parental atopy, not passive smoking or school duration, is linked to childhood respiratory infections and asthma. Skin test results in children did not correlate with these conditions.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
- Environmental Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Parental smoking is a known risk factor for childhood respiratory issues.
- Understanding factors contributing to respiratory infections and asthma in children is crucial for public health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between respiratory infections, asthma attacks, parental atopy, passive smoking, and school duration in children aged 4-9.
- To identify key risk factors for respiratory and asthmatic conditions in young children.
Main Methods:
- A descriptive study was conducted in São Paulo, Brazil, involving 183 children aged 4-9.
- Parental questionnaires and skin tests for inhaled antigens (in 88 children) were used to collect data.
- Data were collected between May and July 1996.
Main Results:
- 51% of children experienced respiratory infections, and 25.7% had asthma in the preceding 3 months.
- Passive smoking exposure was not associated with increased respiratory infections or asthma attacks.
- Parental atopy showed a significant association with asthma attacks and respiratory infections in children, but not when children had multiple positive skin tests.
Conclusions:
- Childhood respiratory infections and asthma are associated with parental atopy.
- Passive smoking and extended school time were not found to be significant risk factors in this study.
- The presence of two or more positive allergy skin tests in children did not correlate with respiratory infections or asthma attacks.
Context:
It has been demonstrated that children exposed to parents who smoke have more respiratory infections and asthma.
Objective:
To study the association of both respiratory infections and asthma attacks with atopy, passive smoking and time spent daily at school, among children aged 4 to 9 years old from a kindergarten and elementary school in the city of São Paulo between May and July of 1996.
Type Of Study:
Descriptive study.
Setting:
A kindergarten and elementary school with linkages to Universidade Federal de São Paulo/Escola Paulista de Medicina.
Participants:
183 children between 4 and 9 years old.
Main Measurements:
A questionnaire consisting of 31 questions was answered by the parents of 183 children, and skin tests for inhaled antigens were performed on 88 children whose parents had given prior agreement for the procedure.
Results:
Among the children, 51% had had respiratory infections during the preceding 3 months and 25.7% were asthmatic, of whom 52.1% had had one or more asthma attacks during the preceding 3 months. Children exposed to passive smoking did not have more respiratory infections or asthma attacks in comparison with those not exposed. We observed a significant association between atopic disorders in parents and children who were not exposed to passive smoking. There were also associations between atopic disorders in parents and asthma attacks in their infants, and between such disorders and a higher incidence of respiratory infections in the infants during the preceding 3 months. However, the presence of two or more positive skin tests for allergies did not have a correlation with respiratory infections and asthma attacks in this sample. In addition to this, children who studied full time at school did not have a higher occurrence of respiratory infections and asthma attacks.
Conclusions:
The presence of respiratory infections and asthma was associated with atopic parents but not with the presence of two or more positive skin tests for allergies among the children. Also, respiratory infections and asthma attacks were not associated with smoking parents or with the length of time spent by the children at school.
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