Relation of early antibiotic use to childhood asthma: confounding by indication?

Summary Background Findings from studies of the relation between early antibiotic use and subsequent asthma have been inconsistent, which may be attributable to methodologic issues. Objective Our objective was to assess the impact of confounding by indication on the relation of early antibiotic use...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical and experimental allergy 2010-08, Vol.40 (8), p.1222-1229
Main Authors: Su, Y., Rothers, J., Stern, D. A., Halonen, M., Wright, A. L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anti-Bacterial Agents - adverse effects
Antibiotics
Asthma
Asthma - epidemiology
Biological and medical sciences
Child, Preschool
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma
confounding
Confounding Factors (Epidemiology)
epidemiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fundamental immunology
Humans
Immunoglobulin E - blood
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Medical sciences
Office Visits
Pneumology
Prevalence
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Summary Background Findings from studies of the relation between early antibiotic use and subsequent asthma have been inconsistent, which may be attributable to methodologic issues. Objective Our objective was to assess the impact of confounding by indication on the relation of early antibiotic use to childhood asthma through age 5 in a non‐selected birth cohort (n=424). Methods Oral antibiotic use was assessed by frequent nurse interviews in the first 9 months of life. Physician‐diagnosed active asthma and eczema were assessed by questionnaire at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years, and were considered as ever asthma or ever eczema if positive at any age. Allergen‐specific IgE was assessed in plasma at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years. Confounding by indication was investigated by considering the relation of asthma to antibiotic use while controlling for the number of illness visits to a physician in early life. Results There was no statistically significant relation of early antibiotic use with physician‐diagnosed eczema or allergen‐specific IgE. A dose–response relation was evident for antibiotic use with ever asthma (odds ratio [OR]=1.5, P=0.047). Ever asthma also increased significantly with the number of illness visits to a physician (P
ISSN:0954-7894
1365-2222
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2222.2010.03539.x