FRIDAY, Dec. 19, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- A baby's risk of developing asthma increases when she is exposed daily to certain chemicals, pollutants and other environmental factors during her first year of life.
So says a study by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.
The study found early asthma in children was linked to growing up around cockroaches, pesticides, weed killers, fuel oil, soot and exhaust, farm crops, dust and animals.
Babies who first went to day care before the age of 4 months also had an increased risk of developing respiratory disease later on, the study says.
"The first year of life seem uniquely important in terms of susceptibility to environmental triggers of asthma," researcher Dr. Frank D. Gilliland, a professor of preventive medicine, says in a prepared statement.
Gaining a better understanding of asthma early in life is important. Persistent early childhood asthma is associated with long-term health problems.
The study included 338 children from southern California who had been diagnosed with asthma before they turned 5. Those children were compared with 570 asthma-free children of the same age who lived in the same communities.
Among other findings, the study concluded that children exposed to weed killers before the age of 1 had more than 4.5 times the risk of developing asthma before age 5 as non-exposed children. Children exposed to pesticides before age 1 had nearly 2.5 times the risk of developing asthma before age 5 as non-exposed children.
The study results were published Dec. 17 in the online issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.
More information
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