NEW DELHI: Babies born early are more likely to develop childhood asthma than those born at full term, new research shows.
A worldwide study of more than 1.5 million children found that the risk of developing asthma, or asthma-like symptoms, after a pre-term birth is higher than previously thought.
In addition, the risks of developing asthmatic symptoms are the same for preschool and school age children, indicating that children born prematurely do not outgrow the risk.
With asthma the most common chronic disease in childhood, and an increasing number of babies now surviving premature birth, this is likely to become a significant health problem.
According to a press statement from the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Population Health Sciences, Asthma affects some 8% of children born at full term, while this rises to 14% in babies born prematurely - defined as at least three weeks early - the study shows.
The findings are published in PLOS Medicine. Babies born more than three weeks before the usual 40-week term early were almost 50% more likely to develop asthma. Those born more than two months early were three times as likely to be affected as babies born at full term.
Data was taken from 30 studies of patients from six continents who were born since the 1990s. Most were from Western countries, including 14 from Europe and four from the UK.
Dr Jasper Been, of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Population Health Sciences, who led the study in collaboration with Maastricht and Harvard Universities, said: "Doctors and parents need to be aware of the increased risks of asthma in premature babies, in order to make early diagnosis and intervention possible."
"By changing the way we monitor and treat children born pre-term, we hope to decrease the future risks of serious breathing problems, including asthma. Our findings should help find better ways to prevent and treat asthma and asthma-like symptoms in those born pre-term," added Been.
Many pre-term babies experience breathing problems, because their lungs are immature. Previous research among pre-term children born in the 1960s to 1980s showed that many went on to develop asthma. Although care for pre-term babies has improved, it was unclear whether this affected the babies' long-term risk of asthma.
Researchers say it is important to better understand why pre-term birth leads to asthma, so that early interventions can be developed to prevent childhood asthma among children born pre-term.
Dr Samantha Walker, executive director of research and policy at Asthma UK, said: "This is a robust study providing further evidence that babies born before their due date are at increased risk of childhood asthma. We know that uncontrolled asthma in pregnant women, amongst other things, can increase the risk of premature birth, which reinforces the need for good asthma management during pregnancy. Standard asthma medicine is very safe to use in pregnancy, and by far the most important way to reduce this risk is for pregnant women to take their medication as prescribed. Other things to bear in mind are maintaining a healthy weight, staying active and avoiding stress, smoking and infections."
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