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Gestational Age‐Specific Associations between Infantile Acute Bronchiolitis and Asthma after Age Five
Author(s) -
Strickland Matthew J.,
Marsh Caitlin A.,
Darrow Lyndsey A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
paediatric and perinatal epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.667
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3016
pISSN - 0269-5022
DOI - 10.1111/ppe.12150
Subject(s) - medicine , asthma , bronchiolitis , confidence interval , gestational age , emergency department , pediatrics , confounding , risk factor , small for gestational age , pregnancy , psychiatry , biology , respiratory system , genetics
Background Infantile acute bronchiolitis ( AB ) is a risk factor for the development of paediatric asthma. The associations might differ according to gestational age. Methods Data sets of emergency department ( ED ) visits ( J anuary 2002 to J une 2010) and livebirth records ( J anuary 2002 to D ecember 2004) from the state of G eorgia were linked for all children who survived 1 year. Exposure was an ED visit for AB during infancy, and the outcome was an ED visit for asthma after age 5 years. The risk of asthma among children with AB ( n = 11 564) was compared with the risk of asthma among children who did not have an ED visit for AB but who utilised the ED for another reason during infancy ( n = 131 694). Associations were estimated using log‐binomial regression models that controlled for several plausible confounders. Effect measure modification of the risk ratio by gestational age was investigated. Results Unadjusted asthma risks (per 100 children) through J une 2010 were 4.5 for children with AB and 2.3 for children without AB . The adjusted risk ratio for the overall association was 1.9 [95% confidence interval 1.7, 2.1]. We did not observe effect modification of the risk ratio by gestational age. Conclusion A positive association was observed between ED visits for AB and subsequent asthma ED visits after age 5; associations did not vary meaningfully by gestational age. Sensitivity analyses did not suggest large biases due to differences in ED utilisation across sociodemographic groups or loss to follow‐up from residential migration.