Gestational Age, Birthweight for Gestational Age, and Childhood Hospitalisations for Asthma and Other Wheezing Disorders

Abstract

The association of preterm birth with childhood wheezing could be biologically mediated. We cannot rule out an association for early term births.

Asthma and atopic dermatitis after early‐, late‐, and post‐term birth

“…According to our hypothesis, PT birth was associated with a decreased risk of childhood asthma, despite the increased frequency of neonatal respiratory problems defined as need of ventilator therapy in the PT group. Similar findings among LT and PT children have been reported previously. This seems to represent part of a continuum found in our previous study, where the risk of asthma decreased with increasing GA from very preterm birth to term, possibly due to continuous intrauterine maturation of the airways.…”

Socioeconomic disparities in preterm birth and birth weight in a non-Western developed setting: evidence from Hong Kong's ‘Children of 1997’ birth cohort

“…Higher neighbourhood income inequality has been associated with lower birth weight for gestational age 35. In our cohort, higher SEP is associated with lower gestational age,36 possibly because mothers with higher SEP opted for caesarean sections in private hospitals in early term. Hong Kong has relatively high rates of caesarean section (26% in this sample).…”

Outcomes of infants born near term

“…Tickell looked specifically at ET children born following elective induction of delivery and showed increased risk of hospitalisation before 5 years for lower respiratory disorders (adj.OR 1.31; 95% CI 1.11 to 1.55) with this difference persisting after exclusion of 5% who had respiratory care on neonatal intensive care unit 21. However, a study of >8000 Chinese infants and children aged 9 days to 12 years did not support an increased risk of hospitalisation for asthma following ET birth;22 others have argued that observed associations may be accounted for by confounding factors 23…”