Antenatal Steroid Therapy for Fetal Lung Maturation and the Subsequent Risk of Childhood Asthma : A Longitudinal Analysis

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that fetal exposure to corticosteroids in the antenatal period is an independent risk factor for the development of asthma in early childhood with little or no effect in later childhood. A population-based cohort study of all pregnant women who resided...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of pregnancy 2010-01, Vol.2010 (2010), p.1-9
Main Authors: Pole, Jason D., Mustard, Cameron A., To, Teresa, Beyene, Joseph, Allen, Alexander C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adrenal Cortex Hormones - adverse effects
Adult
Asthma - chemically induced
Asthma - epidemiology
Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia - epidemiology
Cesarean Section - statistics & numerical data
Child
Child, Preschool
Cohort Studies
Female
Fetal Organ Maturity - drug effects
Humans
Hyaline Membrane Disease - epidemiology
Infant, Newborn
Longitudinal Studies
Lung - embryology
Male
Nova Scotia - epidemiology
Pregnancy
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
Proportional Hazards Models
Pulmonary Surfactants - administration & dosage
Risk Assessment
Risk Factors
Smoking - epidemiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study was designed to test the hypothesis that fetal exposure to corticosteroids in the antenatal period is an independent risk factor for the development of asthma in early childhood with little or no effect in later childhood. A population-based cohort study of all pregnant women who resided in Nova Scotia, Canada, and gave birth to a singleton fetus between 1989 and 1998 was undertaken. After a priori specified exclusions, 80,448 infants were available for analysis. Using linked health care utilization records, incident asthma cases developed after 36 months of age were identified. Extended Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios while controlling for confounders. Exposure to corticosteroids during pregnancy was associated with a risk of asthma in childhood between 3–5 years of age: adjusted hazard ratio of 1.19 (95% confidence interval: 1.03, 1.39), with no association noted after 5 years of age: adjusted hazard ratio for 5–7 years was 1.06 (95% confidence interval: 0.86, 1.30) and for 8 or greater years was 0.74 (95% confidence interval: 0.54, 1.03). Antenatal steroid therapy appears to be an independent risk factor for the development of asthma between 3 and 5 years of age.
ISSN:2090-2727
2090-2735
DOI:10.1155/2010/789748