Babies given antibiotics more likely to develop asthma

Jun 12 2007

Canadian researchers are suggesting that children who receive antibiotics as infants have a greater risk of developing asthma by the age of 7, than those children not given antibiotics.

The researchers from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and McGill University in Montreal conducted a study of 13,116 children born in 1995 and found that antibiotic use in children can raise their risk of developing asthma.

Anita Kozyrskyj and colleagues used Manitoba, Canada's health care and prescription databases, to carry out the longitudinal study which examined the association between antibiotic prescription use during the first year of life and asthma at age 7.

The researchers found that babies who were exposed early to antibiotics were at higher risk for asthma.

Children under the age of one are often given antibiotics for a number of reasons but in particular for lower respiratory infections such as bronchitis as well as pneumonia or upper respiratory tract infections like ear and sinus infections.

The researchers also found that babies exposed to antibiotics whose families did not have a dog in the house were also at an increased risk of asthma by the age of 7.

Experts suggest that exposure to pets such as a dog or a cat at an early age can provide infants with exposure to germs which kick starts their immune system thereby protecting them from certain conditions such as asthma.

Dr. Kozyrskyj, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba, says asthma is a multi-factorial disease, and the study has provided evidence of an association with first-year-of-life antibiotic use and asthma.

Kozyrskyj suggests that the presence of good bacteria is needed during the first year of life for the immune system to develop normally, and antibiotics could be killing off some of the natural microflora in the gut.

Asthma is an inflammation of the airways that makes breathing difficult; symptoms can include wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing and chest tightness especially at night and in the early morning.

Asthma cannot be cured, but most people with asthma can control it so that they have few and infrequent symptoms and live full and active lives.

In a severe asthma attack, the airways can close so much that not enough oxygen gets to vital organs; this condition is a medical emergency and can be life-threatening if symptoms are not treated.

People can die from severe asthma attacks.

The researchers concluded that antibiotic use in early life was associated with the development of childhood asthma, a risk which may be reduced by avoiding use of broad spectrum antibiotics.

The study findings are published in the June issue of the journal Chest.