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© 2020 Wohlford et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Rationale

Severe early-life respiratory illnesses, particularly those caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human rhinovirus (HRV), are strongly associated with the development of asthma in children. Puerto Rican children in particular have a strikingly high asthma burden. However, prior studies of the potential associations between early-life respiratory illnesses and asthma in Puerto Rican and other minority populations have been limited.

Objectives

We sought to determine whether early-life respiratory illness was associated with asthma in Puerto Rican, Mexican American, and African American children.

Methods

Using a logistic regression analysis, we examined the association between early-life respiratory illnesses (report of upper respiratory infection (URI), pneumonia, bronchitis, and bronchiolitis/RSV) within the first two years of life and physician-diagnosed asthma after the age of two in a large cohort of Puerto Rican, Mexican American, and African American children.

Measurements and main results

While early-life respiratory illnesses were associated with greater asthma odds in Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans, and African Americans, these associations were stronger among Puerto Rican children. Specifically, in Puerto Ricans, the odds was 6.15 (95% CI: 4.21–9.05) if the child reported at least one of the following respiratory illness: URI, pneumonia, bronchitis or bronchiolitis. The odds were also higher in Puerto Ricans when considering these conditions separately.

Conclusions

We observed population-specific associations between early-life respiratory illnesses and asthma, which were especially significant and stronger in Puerto Ricans. Taken together with the known high burden of RSV in Puerto Rico, our results may help explain the high burden of asthma in Puerto Ricans.

Details

Title
Differential asthma odds following respiratory infection in children from three minority populations
Author
Wohlford, Eric M; Borrell, Luisa N; Elhawary, Jennifer R; Plotkin, Brian; Oh, Sam S; Nuckton, Thomas J; Eng, Celeste; Salazar, Sandra; LeNoir, Michael A; Meade, Kelley; Farber, Harold J; Serebrisky, Denise; Brigino-Buenaventura, Emerita; Rodriguez-Cintron, William; Kumar, Rajesh; Thyne, Shannon; Seibold, Max A; Rodríguez-Santana, José R; Burchard, Esteban G
First page
e0231782
Section
Research Article
Publication year
2020
Publication date
May 2020
Publisher
Public Library of Science
e-ISSN
19326203
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2398583309
Copyright
© 2020 Wohlford et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.