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Published on: August 7, 2017

Parental asthma and childhood asthma phenotypes: maternal associations with persistent asthma

Marianne Rørholt Grefslie1,2, Siri Eldevik Håberg3,4, Maria C Magnus3

  • 1Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway mariannehopen.rorholt@fhi.no.

BMJ Open Respiratory Research
|August 4, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Parental asthma, particularly maternal, increases offspring asthma risk across various phenotypes. Early-onset persistent asthma showed the strongest association with both parents having asthma.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
  • Reproductive Health
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Maternal asthma is linked to higher offspring asthma rates than paternal asthma.
  • The impact of parental asthma on specific asthma phenotypes in children is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between parental asthma and distinct asthma phenotypes in offspring.
  • To determine if maternal or paternal asthma has a differential impact on childhood asthma development.

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of 16,055 children from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) was analyzed.
  • Parental asthma status (none, mother only, father only, both) and offspring asthma phenotypes (never, transient early-onset, persistent early-onset, late-onset) were assessed.
  • Logistic regression models adjusted for confounders were used to evaluate associations.

Main Results:

  • Maternal asthma was associated with increased odds of all offspring asthma phenotypes.
  • Paternal asthma also showed associations, generally with smaller effect sizes.
  • Asthma in both parents demonstrated the strongest association with early-onset persistent asthma.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal asthma showed more pronounced associations with early-onset persistent and late-onset asthma phenotypes compared to paternal asthma.
  • Early-onset transient asthma exhibited less differentiation based on parental asthma status.
  • Parental asthma is a significant risk factor for developing various childhood asthma phenotypes.
Abstract

Keywords:
AsthmaAsthma EpidemiologyPaediatric asthma

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