Early-life airway microbiome and childhood asthma development

Extract Asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease among children, with approximately 10–15% of children affected in the world [1]. Epidemiological research has identified many risk factors for childhood asthma, including genetic factors [2–7], respiratory infections [8–10], personal and family history of allergic diseases [11], and environmental (e.g. air pollution, respiratory viruses) and lifestyle (e.g. nutrition, physical activity, obesity) factors [12, 13]. While experts agree on the early life origins of most childhood asthma [14], it is still unknown whether early life risk factors will have an impact on asthma development in adolescents (i.e. age 10 to 19 years). In this issue of the European Respiratory Journal, by using a culture-dependent approach, Sunde et al. [15] examine the association between neonatal airway bacterial colonisation (i.e. Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and/or Moraxella catarrhalis) and persistent wheeze/asthma until age 18 years in two prospective birth cohorts, the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood 2000 (COPSAC2000) and COPSAC2010 cohorts.
Source: European Respiratory Journal - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Editorials Source Type: research