Asthma, Rhinitis, Other Respiratory DiseasesDog exposure in infancy decreases the subsequent risk of frequent wheeze but not of atopy☆,☆☆
Section snippets
Methods
A cohort of 1246 healthy babies were enrolled at birth in the Tucson Children's Respiratory Study between 1980 and 1984.8 Information regarding household pets was collected at enrollment (ie, soon after the baby was born). Similarly, data on potential confounders (defined below) were obtained from parents by questionnaire at enrollment; maternal smoking in infancy was ascertained when the children were 2 years old. Follow-up questionnaires asking about respiratory symptoms were completed by the
Characteristics of the study population
The original cohort included 1246 subjects, 14 (1%) of whom were missing data on early pet exposure. Enrollment questionnaires were completed at a median age of 2 weeks; >95% of the questionnaires were completed in the first month of life. Data regarding frequent wheeze were available on 1076 children (86%). Skin prick test data were available for 737 and 613 children at 6 years and 11 years, respectively, and total serum IgE data for 829, 534, and 462 subjects at 9 months, 6 years, and 11
Discussion
The major finding of the present study is that exposure to dogs in early life might be protective against the subsequent development of frequent wheezing. This was especially evident among children with no parental history of asthma. The lack of a relation between exposure to dogs and the development of asthma in children with parental history of asthma could reflect the fact that asthmatic parents avoid this exposure. Alternatively, any protective effect of exposure to dogs might be
Acknowledgements
We thank Bruce W. Saul, MSc, for his assistance in data management issues, and the study nurses, M. A. Smith Lindell, RN, and L. L. De La Ossa, RN, for their work.
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Cited by (0)
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The Children's Respiratory Study was funded through NHLBI SCOR grants #HL 14136 and #HL 56177. This work was conducted during the stay of S. T. Remes in Tucson with funding from the Academy of Finland, the Finnish Medical Foundation, and the Finnish Pediatric Research Foundation.
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Reprint requests: Anne L. Wright, PhD, Respiratory Sciences Center, 1501 N. Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ 85724.