Asthma and anxiety development in Australian children and adolescents

Evidence has suggested a bidirectional association between both the effects and onset of asthma and anxiety. The direction of this association in children and adolescents is less clear. The study evaluates whether anxiety in children is associated with the development of later asthma or, by contrast, whether asthma in children precedes anxiety.

Parental reports from 9369 children at two age points (4-5 and 14-15 years old) and from baby (B) (recruited at birth in 2004) and kindergarten (K) (recruited at 4-5 years of age in 2004) cohorts of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) were analyzed. Asthma cases were defined as reports of doctor-diagnosed asthma and the use of asthma medication or/and wheezing. Scores of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) defined anxiety.

We found a unidirectional association between asthma in children aged 4-5 years and future anxiety development in weighted generalized linear adjusted models (B cohort OR (CI 95%) = 1.54 (1.14-2.08); K cohort OR (CI 95%) = 1.87 (1.40-2.49)). Children with asthma (no anxiety at 4 years) had a higher prevalence of anxiety in adolescence compared with nonasthmatics (B cohort = 26.8% vs 17.6%: K cohort = 27.7% vs 14.3%). Anxiety in childhood was not associated with the development of asthma from 6 years old to adolescence.

Australian children with asthma have a greater risk of developing anxiety from 6 to 15 years old. This suggests that early multidisciplinary intervention may be required to support children with asthma to either prevent the increased risk of anxiety and/or promote optimal anxiety management.