Cargando…

Pet-keeping in early life reduces the risk of allergy in a dose-dependent fashion

OBJECTIVES: Several studies have indicated that early pet keeping could protect the infant from later allergy development. Here, we investigate if there is a dose-dependent association between cat- and dog-keeping during the first year of life and subsequent allergy development. METHODS: Two cohorts...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hesselmar, Bill, Hicke-Roberts, Anna, Lundell, Anna-Carin, Adlerberth, Ingegerd, Rudin, Anna, Saalman, Robert, Wennergren, Göran, Wold, Agnes E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6300190/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30566481
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208472
_version_ 1783381627238350848
author Hesselmar, Bill
Hicke-Roberts, Anna
Lundell, Anna-Carin
Adlerberth, Ingegerd
Rudin, Anna
Saalman, Robert
Wennergren, Göran
Wold, Agnes E.
author_facet Hesselmar, Bill
Hicke-Roberts, Anna
Lundell, Anna-Carin
Adlerberth, Ingegerd
Rudin, Anna
Saalman, Robert
Wennergren, Göran
Wold, Agnes E.
author_sort Hesselmar, Bill
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: Several studies have indicated that early pet keeping could protect the infant from later allergy development. Here, we investigate if there is a dose-dependent association between cat- and dog-keeping during the first year of life and subsequent allergy development. METHODS: Two cohorts were investigated: a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study of 7- to 8-year-old children (N = 1029) from Mölndal and Kiruna, and a birth-cohort of children from the Västra Götaland county clinically evaluated for asthma and allergy by paediatricians up to the age of 8–9 years (N = 249). The cross-sectional study asked validated questions on asthma and allergy that had been used in two previous studies of children from the same areas. In the birth-cohort study, a diagnosis of asthma and allergy was based on predefined clinical criteria, and laboratory evaluation included blood eosinophils, skin-prick tests and specific immunoglobulin E analyses. Information on pets during first year of life was collected retrospectively in the Cross-Sectional Cohort and prospectively in the Birth Cohort. RESULTS: A dose-response association was seen, with less allergic manifestations (any of asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, or eczema) with increasing number of household cats and dogs during the first year of life. In the Cross-Sectional Cohort, allergy ever decreased from 49% in those with no pets to zero in those with five or more pets (P-value for trend 0.038), and from 32% to zero for allergy last year (P-value for trend 0.006). The same pattern was seen in Birth Cohort. Sensitization to animals, as well as pollens, also decreased with increasing number of animals in the household. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of allergic disease in children aged 7–9 years is reduced in a dose-dependent fashion with the number of household pets living with the child during their first year of life, suggesting a “mini-farm” effect, whereby cats and dogs protect against allergy development.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6300190
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-63001902018-12-28 Pet-keeping in early life reduces the risk of allergy in a dose-dependent fashion Hesselmar, Bill Hicke-Roberts, Anna Lundell, Anna-Carin Adlerberth, Ingegerd Rudin, Anna Saalman, Robert Wennergren, Göran Wold, Agnes E. PLoS One Research Article OBJECTIVES: Several studies have indicated that early pet keeping could protect the infant from later allergy development. Here, we investigate if there is a dose-dependent association between cat- and dog-keeping during the first year of life and subsequent allergy development. METHODS: Two cohorts were investigated: a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study of 7- to 8-year-old children (N = 1029) from Mölndal and Kiruna, and a birth-cohort of children from the Västra Götaland county clinically evaluated for asthma and allergy by paediatricians up to the age of 8–9 years (N = 249). The cross-sectional study asked validated questions on asthma and allergy that had been used in two previous studies of children from the same areas. In the birth-cohort study, a diagnosis of asthma and allergy was based on predefined clinical criteria, and laboratory evaluation included blood eosinophils, skin-prick tests and specific immunoglobulin E analyses. Information on pets during first year of life was collected retrospectively in the Cross-Sectional Cohort and prospectively in the Birth Cohort. RESULTS: A dose-response association was seen, with less allergic manifestations (any of asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, or eczema) with increasing number of household cats and dogs during the first year of life. In the Cross-Sectional Cohort, allergy ever decreased from 49% in those with no pets to zero in those with five or more pets (P-value for trend 0.038), and from 32% to zero for allergy last year (P-value for trend 0.006). The same pattern was seen in Birth Cohort. Sensitization to animals, as well as pollens, also decreased with increasing number of animals in the household. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of allergic disease in children aged 7–9 years is reduced in a dose-dependent fashion with the number of household pets living with the child during their first year of life, suggesting a “mini-farm” effect, whereby cats and dogs protect against allergy development. Public Library of Science 2018-12-19 /pmc/articles/PMC6300190/ /pubmed/30566481 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208472 Text en © 2018 Hesselmar et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hesselmar, Bill
Hicke-Roberts, Anna
Lundell, Anna-Carin
Adlerberth, Ingegerd
Rudin, Anna
Saalman, Robert
Wennergren, Göran
Wold, Agnes E.
Pet-keeping in early life reduces the risk of allergy in a dose-dependent fashion
title Pet-keeping in early life reduces the risk of allergy in a dose-dependent fashion
title_full Pet-keeping in early life reduces the risk of allergy in a dose-dependent fashion
title_fullStr Pet-keeping in early life reduces the risk of allergy in a dose-dependent fashion
title_full_unstemmed Pet-keeping in early life reduces the risk of allergy in a dose-dependent fashion
title_short Pet-keeping in early life reduces the risk of allergy in a dose-dependent fashion
title_sort pet-keeping in early life reduces the risk of allergy in a dose-dependent fashion
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6300190/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30566481
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208472
work_keys_str_mv AT hesselmarbill petkeepinginearlylifereducestheriskofallergyinadosedependentfashion
AT hickerobertsanna petkeepinginearlylifereducestheriskofallergyinadosedependentfashion
AT lundellannacarin petkeepinginearlylifereducestheriskofallergyinadosedependentfashion
AT adlerberthingegerd petkeepinginearlylifereducestheriskofallergyinadosedependentfashion
AT rudinanna petkeepinginearlylifereducestheriskofallergyinadosedependentfashion
AT saalmanrobert petkeepinginearlylifereducestheriskofallergyinadosedependentfashion
AT wennergrengoran petkeepinginearlylifereducestheriskofallergyinadosedependentfashion
AT woldagnese petkeepinginearlylifereducestheriskofallergyinadosedependentfashion