Eat fish young and keep wheezing at bay: study
New research from Sweden shows how children who consumed fish before nine months of age have a lower risk of suffering from pre-school wheeze. This may change, however, if they were treated with broad spectrum antibiotics in the first week of life or if their mother ingested paracetamol while pregnant. The study will be published in the journal Acta Paediatrica in December. Scientists from Queen Silvia Children's Hospital at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden investigated a sample of 4,171 families that were chosen randomly. The participants answered questions when their child was 6 months, 12 months and 4.5 years of age. The team sought to discover the risk factors for preschool wheeze, specifically in association with fish consumption and early exposure to antibiotics. They also aimed to uncover the potential differences between multiple-trigger wheeze and episodic viral wheeze. 'Recurrent wheeze is a very common clinical problem in preschool children and there is a need for better medical treatment and improved understanding of the underlying mechanisms,' explains the Hospital's Dr Emma Goksor, who is the first author of the report. 'The aim of our study was to identify both important risk factors and protective factors for the disease. Our demographic analysis suggests that the responses we received were largely representative of the population as a whole and we believe our findings provide useful information on three important factors involved in pre-school wheeze.' The researchers assessed children who had at least three episodes of wheezing in the last year, against children who did not wheeze. Children treated with corticosteroids for asthma or not were included in the study. The team split the wheezing group into children who only developed episodic viral wheeze when they had colds and multiple-trigger wheeze, where children also wheezed when they didn't have a cold but as a result of allergens, tobacco smoke or exercise. Overall, 20% of the children reported one or more episodes of wheezing, and 5% reported recurrent wheeze over the last year. Around 75% of these were treated for asthma and more than 50% reported doctor-diagnosed asthma. With respect to fish consumption, children who ate fish before nine months had a 50% lower chance of suffering from recurrent wheeze at 4.5 years. White fish tops the list, followed by salmon and flat fish. According to the researchers, being treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics in the first week was linked to a twofold increase in the risk of recurrent wheeze at 4.5 years. Only 3.6% of the children in the no wheeze group had received antibiotics, against 10.7% of those who had experienced at least three episodes. The risk increased for children with multiple-trigger wheeze. The researchers found no significantly statistical increase with the risk of episodic viral wheeze. As regards use of paracetamol, the researchers found 28.4% of the mothers had ingested the medication while pregnant. The incidence of prenatal paracetamol exposure in the wheeze group using asthma medication was 12.4%; taking paracetamol during pregnancy raised the risk by 60%. The team says the effect was noticeable in the multiple-trigger wheeze group, where the risk was twofold. Says Dr Goksor: 'Our findings clearly show that while fish has a protective effect against developing pre-school wheeze, children who had antibiotics in the first week of life and whose mothers took paracetamol during pregnancy faced an increased risk, particularly of multiple-trigger wheeze.'For more information, please visit:Acta Paediatrica:http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0803-5253University of Gothenburg:http://www.gu.se/english
Countries
Sweden