Antibiotic Usage in Babies Linked to Asthma & Allergies

The opening remarks of an article from the October 1, 2003 BBC News states, “Babies given antibiotics are more likely to develop asthma and other allergies, research suggests.”

The article reports on research done at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Senior researcher and epidemiologist Dr. Christine Cole Johnson studied 448 children, whose development was tracked for their first seven years. The children were studied to see if there was a relationship between the early usage of antibiotics and the onset of asthma or allergies.

Assessing the children repeatedly, the research team discovered that by the age of seven, children who were given at least one antibiotic in the first six months of their lives were found to be:

• 1.5 times more likely to develop allergies by age seven than those who did not receive antibiotics, and 2.5 times more likely to develop asthma.
  
• 1.7 times more likely to develop allergies, and three times more likely to develop asthma, if they lived in those early years with fewer than two pets.
  
• nearly twice as likely to develop allergies if their mother had a history of allergies.
  
• nearly twice as likely to develop allergies if they were also breast-fed for more than four months, when combined with taking antibiotics.
  

Interestingly, babies who were breast-fed for more than four months, and who received antibiotics in their first six months were three times more likely to develop allergies, although they were no more likely to develop asthma. Also, interesting was the result that exposure to pets seemed to have a protective effect.

Those given antibiotics who lived in a family with fewer than two pets had 1.7 times the risk of allergies and three times the risk of asthma. However, when a family had two or more pets, the risk of allergies or asthma for the child was back to normal levels.

The biggest risk of all – an 11-fold increase – was found among children who were prescribed a broad-spectrum antibiotic, such as penicillin, were breast-fed for four months, and did not have family pets. The researchers also found evidence that the more courses of antibiotics a child received during their first six months, the higher their risk of developing an allergy.

“I believe we need to be more prudent in prescribing them for children at such a young age,” said Dr. Christine Cole Johnson. “In the past, many of them were prescribed unnecessarily, especially for viral infections like colds and flus when they would have no effect anyway.”

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Antibiotics During First Year of Life Increases Risk for Asthma

A new study published in the June 2007 issue of the scientific journal Chest shows that the risk of asthma is one and a half times greater in babies who received more than four courses of antibiotics before age 1. The research was reported on the June 15, 2007 Medscape website and in several news outlets including the online June 11, 2007 Toronto Star.

Researchers reviewed healthcare and prescription databases in Manitoba, Canada of over 13 thousand children to see if there was an association between antibiotic prescription use during the first year of life and asthma at the age of 7. The results showed that children who had been given antibiotics in the first year of life were more likely to develop asthma by age seven. Children in this group who were given four courses of antibiotics were most at risk.

Study author Anita L. Kozyrskyj, PhD, from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, commented, “Since oral antibiotics are frequently prescribed for upper and lower respiratory tract infections in children, an understanding of the relation between antibiotic use and asthma is critical to clinicians and health-care policymakers worldwide.” She continued, “To address the major methodological issues of reverse causation and selection bias in epidemiologic studies of antibiotic use in early life and the development of asthma, we undertook a cohort study of this association in a complete population of children.”

The authors noted that further studies were needed but suggested, “In the interim, it would be prudent to avoid the unnecessary use BS antibiotics in the first year of life when other antibiotics are available.” They concluded, “Antibiotic use in early life was associated with the development of childhood asthma, a risk that may be reduced by avoiding the use of BS [broad-spectrum] cephalosporins.”

The authors noted that further studies were needed but suggested, “In the interim, it would be prudent to avoid the unnecessary use BS antibiotics in the first year of life when other antibiotics are available.” They concluded, “Antibiotic use in early life was associated with the development of childhood asthma, a risk that may be reduced by avoiding the use of BS [broad-spectrum] cephalosporins.”

The Toronto Star interviewed Dr. Sheldon Spier, a pediatric respirologist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. Dr. Spier commented that this study may help explain why asthma develops in some children. “This study really is quite important,” he continued, “It tells us a lot more about asthma and the possible factors that lead to it. But we do have to be careful in our interpretation of it.”

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Interested in more research on asthma? Check out some of these articles …

Antibiotic Usage in Babies Linked to Asthma

Steroid Treatment Have Negative Affects