An approach to the asthma‐protective farm effect by geocoding: Good farms and better farms

Abstract

Clustering of farms within a neighborhood of 100 m is strongly associated with the protective effect on asthma and may represent a more traditional style of farming with broader microbial exposure.

The role of innate immunity in asthma development and protection: Lessons from the environment

“…Specific exposures that contribute to the farm effect include contact with livestock (cattle, pigs and poultry) and animal feed (hay, grain and straw), consumption of raw milk, high endotoxin levels and environmental microbes . More recent data have clarified the reach of protective exposures by showing that physical proximity to a traditional farm within a maximum radius of 100 m is inversely associated with childhood asthma and atopic sensitization …”

Highlights and recent developments in airway diseases in EAACI journals (2018)

“…This protective "farm effect" was studied in farm children from different European countries in terms of living in close proximity to another farm using geocoded data from the GABRIELA study (2005)(2006)(2007). 75 Clustered farms within a 100 m radius were exposed to a broader microbial diversity, additionally contributing to the protective farm effect of asthma. For the first time, the beneficial immunoregulatory effect of cattle farm dust was compared with the negative effect of urban PM using the same research methods, and so allowing for a systematic comparison between the two environments in vitro.…”

Special Considerations in Preschool Age

“…In addition to the type of farming, the positioning may make a difference. Clustering farms may mimic this protective microbial diversity when compared to more scattered localizations even if the farms are of the more industrialized type [106]. The largest protective effect is seen if the child is exposed to a farming environment before birth and then continually throughout their childhood [103].…”