J Allergy Clin Immunol
AAAAI Conference: Decreased asthma, allergic disease risk associated with early-life daycare attendance
New research presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2024 annual meeting suggests that daycare attendance during early childhood may protect children from the development of asthma and allergic diseases. The authors found that children attending daycare had clinically significant lower total IgE levels than children who didn't attend daycare.
- Researchers collected demographic and clinical measures from mothers and their children born at >36 weeks' gestation in the Puerto Rican Infant Metagenomic and Epidemiologic Study of Respiratory Outcomes (PRIMERO) cohort and surveilled those children for their first two years of life with blood samples for total IgE and perennial allergen specific IgE testing.
- Daycare attendance status and total and perennial allergen specific IgE measurements were available for 435 children, of which 96 (22.1%) attended daycare.
- Total IgE levels were, on average, 142 IU/mL lower among children who attended daycare compared to those who did not.
- Children in daycare had 0.57 times the odds (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.35 - 0.91) of perennial aeroallergen sensitization compared with those who were not in daycare (after adjustment: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.33 - 0.97).
Source:
Witonsky, J., et al. (2024, February). J Allergy Clin Immunol. Association of early-life daycare exposure and allergy sensitization in Puerto Rico: PRIMERO birth cohort findings. https://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(23)02280-7/fulltext