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Low-normal gestational age as a predictor of asthma at 6 years of age

Benjamin A Raby1, Juan C Celedón, Augusto A Litonjua

  • 1Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. benjamin.raby@channing.harvard.edu

Pediatrics
|September 3, 2004
PubMed

Insights

Late prematurity, not low birth weight, is linked to childhood asthma. This risk is higher in boys and may be an important factor for children with a high risk of atopic disease.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
  • Respiratory Medicine
  • Genetics and Epidemiology

Background:

  • Perinatal factors like gestational age and birth weight impact early atopy development.
  • The influence of these factors on later-life asthma in children without perinatal respiratory issues is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between perinatal factors and the development of asthma in high-risk children.
  • To explore potential gender-specific effects of these associations.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of 454 infants with parental history of allergy/asthma, born at ≥36 weeks gestation, without perinatal respiratory distress.
  • Follow-up for at least 6 years, assessing asthma and wheeze using multivariate logistic regression and repeated-event analyses.

Main Results:

  • Low birth weight was not associated with asthma at 6 years.
  • Low-normal gestational age showed a strong association with asthma at 6 years (OR: 4.7).
  • This association was significantly stronger in boys (OR: 8.15) than in girls (OR: 1.90), with gender differences confirmed in longitudinal wheeze analysis.

Conclusions:

  • Late prematurity (low-normal gestational age) may be a significant determinant of later-life asthma in high-risk children.
  • The impact of late prematurity on asthma development is gender-specific.
  • These findings highlight the importance of considering gestational age in asthma risk assessment for specific pediatric populations.
Abstract

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