Parental Atopy and Asthma in Rural Children: Is There a Link?

Details

• Personal Author:
  Merchant, James A. ; Naleway AL ; Stromquist AM ; Svendsen ER ; Thorne PS
• Description:
  Recent literature has reported low asthma and/or atopy prevalence in rural/farm populations. We found relatively high rates of childhood asthma (16%) and atopy (36%) in a completely rural cohort. The highest prevalence of asthma was in farm children, atopy in rural town children. We tested the hypothesis that parental farm allergies were associated with these outcomes in a cross-sectional study of data from Round I of the Keokuk County Rural Health Study. Parental interview, spirometry, methylcholine inhalation challenge, skin-prick testing, and serum specific IgE (sub-sample only) data were included. This study was limited to 487 children ages 3-17 years. Several specific parental allergy and sensitization variables were associated with asthma or atopy, including farm allergies to hogs (31.0% prev., asthma OR= 1.98, 95%CI 1.21-3.24), soybeans (16.6% prev., asthma OR= 2.48, 95%CI 1.42-4.34), and chickens (8.2% prev., atopy OR= 1.90, 95%CI 0.993.63). After adjustment for other covariates, multiple comparisons within homes, and other environmental exposures; parental allergy to soybeans was associated with increased asthma prevalence in children (OR= 1.12, 95%CI 1.02-1.23). Similarly, parental allergy to chicken was weakly associated with atopy (OR= 1.15, 95%CI 0.99-1.35). Our study suggests that atopy prevalence on farms was low relative to town and rural residents. Parental atopy to farm antigens was a weak contributor to a childs risk of developing atopic illnesses. This abstract does not necessarily represent EPA policy. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Asthma Asthma, Occupational Environmental Exposure Farmers Hypersensitivity Occupational Health Respiratory Function Tests Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety

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• Keywords:
  Agricultural-workers Allergies Bronchial-asthma Children Environmental-exposure Inhalation-studies Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory-system-disorders Sensitization Spirometry
• ISSN:
  1073-449X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary ; Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  167
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20023110
• Citation:
  Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2003 Apr; 167(7):A853
• Email:
  svendsen.erik@epa.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• NORA Priority Area:
  Pulmonary System Disorders
• Performing Organization:
  University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19900930
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2003 International Conference, The American Thoracic Society, Seattle, WA, May 16-21, 2003
• End Date:
  20020929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5cfabc5a0abdcec33e63a4d8b7d03768a465ac8a0dc190d480e7df76a2871a948a38ee25d1c6252cb69adcceda4a8a41acad62a2e258d6acf4c0f91b42f631c7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199678/cdc_199678_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.29 MB ]