For the first time, Australian researchers have confirmed that maternal asthma increases the risk of allergies in children.
- If the mother has asthma during pregnancy, the child is 76% more likely to develop this respiratory disease.
- Children of mothers with asthma are also at increased risk of wheezing (59%), food allergies (32%), eczema (17%) and hay fever (18%).
- Better control of maternal asthma helps “improve long-term health of offspring.”
“Clinical and preclinical data indicate that exposure to maternal asthma in utero increases the risk of asthma in children. But does it increase the risk of allergy?” This is the question that scientists from the Robinson Research Institute at the University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia and the University of Queensland (Australia) asked themselves. In order to find out for sure, they conducted a study, the results of which were published in the journal BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Food allergies: children whose mothers have asthma are 32% more likely to suffer from them
To carry out their work, the team reviewed and synthesized available data from more than 20,000 sources on the link between in utero exposure to maternal asthma and postnatal asthma, wheezing and allergic diseases. The results found that children whose mothers had asthma were 76% more likely to have the disease themselves. “We found that maternal asthma is associated with an increased risk of wheezing (59%), food allergy (32%), eczema (17%) and hay fever (18%),” specified Andrea Rofflead author of the research.
“The risk of asthma in children is 13% lower when maternal asthma is well controlled”
The authors observed that uncontrolled and more severe maternal asthma during pregnancy was also associated with an increased risk of asthma in children. This suggests that better asthma control is essential during pregnancy. “When mothers have asthma, the risk of asthma in children is 13% lower when maternal asthma is well controlled, and 19% lower in children whose mothers had mild asthma compared with moderate or severe asthma.”
According to Kathy Gatford, co-author of the study, their analysis suggests that “Programs aimed at improving asthma management during pregnancy could improve the long-term health of offspring and reduce the risk of complications during pregnancy.”
