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MedWire News:
Uncontrolled, moderate-to-severe asthma in pregnancy is associated with
an increased risk for asthma in offspring, researchers have found.
“Although many
studies have investigated the relationship between maternal asthma
status in pregnancy and child-related outcomes manifesting themselves
soon after birth, to the best of our knowledge, no study has
specifically investigated whether or not the lack of maternal asthma
control during pregnancy would result in an increased risk for
childhood asthma,” explain Lucie Blais (University of
Montreal, Quebec, Canada) and team.
To address this, the
researchers studied 8226 children born to 8226 asthmatic mothers in
Canada between 1990 and 2002.
All the mothers completed
questionnaires on maternal, paternal, and siblings’ health,
lifestyle habits, environment and child’s health. Maternal
asthma during pregnancy was measured with validated indexes based on
the use of medications and acute care for asthma. These were defined as
mild controlled, mild uncontrolled, moderate-to-severe controlled and
moderate-to-severe uncontrolled.
Children were followed up
until the age of 10 years or 2002, whichever came first. During this
time, 2681 (32.6%) children developed asthma, defined as at least one
diagnosis of asthma and a prescription for an asthma medication
recorded within a 2-year period.
After accounting for
confounding variables, the researchers found that children born to
women who had moderate-to-severe uncontrolled asthma during pregnancy
were 1.27 times more likely to develop the respiratory condition than
those with mothers who had mild controlled asthma during pregnancy.
There was no significant
increased asthma risk for children of mothers who had mild uncontrolled
asthma and moderate-to-severe controlled asthma during pregnancy,
compared with children born to mothers with mild controlled asthma,
notes the team.
“The present
study showed a statistically significant relationship between the lack
of control and increased severity of maternal asthma during pregnancy
and the incidence of asthma in the offspring,” Blais and team
conclude in the European Respiratory Journal.
They add: “It is of
great importance for physicians to adequately treat asthmatic women
during pregnancy, not only for the favorable outcome of pregnancy on
its own but also for the benefit of the child.” |