Pet-Keeping in Relation to Asthma, Rhinitis, and Eczema Symptoms Among Adolescents in Kuwait: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Findings on the associations between household pet-keeping and allergic diseases, including asthma, rhinitis, and eczema, have been contradictory, with investigations reporting positive, negative, and null associations. This study sought to estimate the prevalence of pet-keeping among families in Kuwait and to assess the associations between pet-keeping and symptoms of allergic diseases among adolescents. Methods: Schoolchildren aged 11-14 years (n = 3,864) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. The children's parents completed questionnaires regarding their child's environmental exposures, including pet-keeping in the past 12 months, and clinical history and symptoms of allergic diseases. Associations were assessed using Poisson regression with robust variance estimation, and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated. Results: Pet-keeping in the past 12 months was reported by 42.8% of the participating families. Birds, cats, rabbits, fish, and dogs were kept by 28.3, 13.2, 7.8, 3.9, and 3.1% of all households, respectively. Current cat ownership was significantly associated with current wheezing (aPR 1.29, 95% CI 1.05-1.58), current rhinitis symptoms (aPR 1.18, 95% CI 1.02-1.36), and ever doctor-diagnosed eczema (aPR 1.25, 95% CI 1.03-1.50). Current rabbit-keeping was positively associated with multiple symptoms of asthma (e.g., study-defined current asthma: aPR 1.38, 95% CI 1.04-1.82) and eczema (e.g., severe eczema: aPR 1.94, 95% CI 1.02-3.71). Similarly, current bird-keeping was associated with study-defined current rhinitis (aPR 1.19, 95% CI 1.05-1.41) and current itchy rash (aPR 1.27, 95% CI 1.10-1.46). Conclusions: Household pet-keeping is very common and diverse in Kuwait and was found to be positively associated with symptoms of allergic diseases among adolescents. The findings of associations between rabbit-keeping and symptoms of asthma and eczema add to the existing literature and further highlight the importance of considering the pet type when assessing such associations.

Sex‐specific developmental trajectories of eczema from infancy to age 26 years: A birth cohort study

“…Prior studies have shown that elevated birthweight is associated with eczema development in infancy 51,52 . Among males, our analysis identified that cat‐keeping at birth was associated with increased risk for late‐onset eczema trajectory; this observation has been reported previously 53–55 …”

“…51,52 Among males, our analysis identified that cat-keeping at birth was associated with increased risk for late-onset eczema trajectory; this observation has been reported previously. [53][54][55] Comparing different studies on eczema trajectories (see The prospective long-term follow-ups that covered childhood, adolescence and early adulthood and the high retention are major strengths to our study. In addition, analysing males and females separately provided novel insights into sex-specific inferences.…”

Beliefs of parents in Kuwait about thirdhand smoke and its relation to home smoking rules: A cross-sectional study

“…Nevertheless, in terms of education level and income, our study sample did not substantially deviate from other randomly selected samples in Kuwait. For instance a prior study that enrolled a random sample of parents (n=3864) of high school students in Kuwait reported that 42.7% of mothers and 35.8% of fathers have Bachelor's degree 46 , which is lower than the reported estimate in the current report (57.6% reported having a Bachelor's degree). Moreover, the majority of study participants of the aforementioned study sample reported a household income between 1501 and 3000 Kuwaiti Dinars (44.5%) 47 , which is close to what was reported by participants in the current report (45.5% reported a similar income).…”

Asthma, bronchitis respiratory symptoms, allergies and home environment: how are they related?

“…Their practical impact should thus be analysed with great caution on a caseby-case basis. Some authors have also suggested that the protective effect of exposure to pets may only be apparent and may in fact result from selective avoidance of exposure by patients or high-risk individuals [18][19][20]. Neither can the effect of reverse causation be ruled out in the authors' own research, given that the information obtained by means of the questionnaire is limited.…”