Growing up with a dog 'reduces childhood asthma risk'

ConclusionThis cohort study aimed to study the association between living with or around dogs or farm animals during the first year of life and the risk of asthma in preschool children and school-aged children. The results suggest early exposure to dogs and farm animals may reduce the risk of childhood asthma. However, there are a number of limitations and caveats to consider. This study type can suggest an association, but it cannot prove cause and effect. The researchers adjusted their analysis for various potential confounders, including parental age, education level and country of birth. But it was not possible to account for all confounding factors, and other factors could have had an influence. Importantly, the researchers did take parental asthma status into account, but adjusting for this gave inconsistent results, with some links remaining significant, while others did not. For example, school-age children with early dog exposure had a reduced risk regardless of whether their parent had asthma. But when the two groups were divided in two according to parental asthma status, no risk reduction was found for either. When it came to farm animal exposure, risk was reduced in children of parents without asthma, but not in those who had parental asthma, for both groups. This slightly clouds the picture and makes it difficult to give a clear, consistent message on whether animal exposure has a direct effect on risk, or whether it is influenced by other factors, such as paren...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Pregnancy/child Source Type: news