Pre- and postnatal risk factors in relation to allergic rhinitis in school-aged children in China

Youjin Li; Yanrui Jiang; Shenghui Li; Xiaoming Shen; Jinfen Liu; Fan Jiang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0114022

Pre- and postnatal risk factors in relation to allergic rhinitis in school-aged children in China

PLoS One. 2015 Feb 3;10(2):e0114022. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114022. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Youjin Li¹, Yanrui Jiang², Shenghui Li³, Xiaoming Shen³, Jinfen Liu⁴, Fan Jiang²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Shanghai Children's Medical Center affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, P. R. China; MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Shanghai, P. R. China.
² MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Shanghai, P. R. China; Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Shanghai Children's Medical Center affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, P. R. China.
³ MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Shanghai, P. R. China.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Shanghai Children's Medical Center affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, P. R. China; Shanghai Jiao Tong University Pediatric Institute, Shanghai, P. R. China.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between prenatal and postnatal risk factors and the prevalence of allergic rhinitis (AR) in Chinese children of specific ages.

Study design: This study was a cross-sectional survey. Students from 8 metropolitan cities in China were studied in November and December, 2005. There were 20,803 elementary-school Chinese children (49.6% boys, mean age, 9.19 years) enrolled. Questions from the standard questionnaire of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Children were completed to enable us to examine the pattern of current AR. The potential confounders and pre-and postnatal risk factors were analyzed using logistic regression.

Results: The overall prevalence of AR was found in this study to be 9.8%. After adjusting for several likely confounders, there was a higher likelihood of AR in school-aged children who were not exclusively breastfed in the first 4 months of their lives (odds ratio [OR]: 1.28; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16-1.41), children who were born post-term (OR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.12-1.60), children delivered by cesarean section (OR: 1.07; 95% CI: 1.00-1.19), or children born to mothers who experienced depressive symptoms during the pre- and postnatal periods (OR: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.15-1.42).

Conclusions: AR in school-aged children was found to be associated with pre- and postnatal events. These findings indicate that strategies to reduce exposure to risk factors during pre- and postnatal periods for childhood allergies might be warranted.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Child
Child, Preschool
China / epidemiology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Fetus*
Humans
Male
Multivariate Analysis
Pregnancy
Prevalence
Rhinitis, Allergic / epidemiology*
Risk Factors
Surveys and Questionnaires*

Grants and funding

The study was supported by Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (81172685); Ministry of Science and Technology (2010CB535000); Ministry of Health (201002006), Shanghai Science and Technology Commission (12411950405, 13QH1401800); and Shanghai Municipal Committee of Education (11SG19, HJTY-2010-A09), Shanghai Key Discipline of Public Health, AFINS research project (AFINS-HOPE-2011025), Shengyuan Research Project.