Do asthma and allergy influence subsequent pet keeping? An analysis of childhood and adulthood.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Asthma and allergy might influence the choice of keeping pets, leading to apparent protective effects of pets on allergic disease.

OBJECTIVE:
We investigated the effects of asthma and allergy on subsequent pet keeping in childhood and adulthood.

METHODS:
Information about asthma and pet keeping at ages 0 to 4, 5 to 15, 20 to 44, and 26 to 56 years was provided by 9812 subjects participating in the 9-year follow-up of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey.

RESULTS:
In childhood asthma debut at younger than 5 years was associated with less cat keeping at 5 to 15 years (odds ratio [OR], 0.60; 95% CI, 0.44-0.82), an effect only observed when the parents did not have asthma or allergy (P(interaction) = .045). Childhood asthma did not influence adult pet ownership, unless there were adult symptoms. Adults less often acquired cats at follow-up if they had 3 or more asthma symptoms (OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.64-0.95), were taking asthma medication (OR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.31-0.74), had hay fever (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.62-0.91), had atopy (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.61-0.91), or had specific IgE to cat (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.39-0.82) at baseline. Adults who already had pets usually continued keeping the same type of pet, except that the presence of 3 or more asthma symptoms was associated with less subsequent dog keeping (OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.53-0.89). Pet removal between surveys to reduce allergen was reported by 4.7%.

CONCLUSION:
Selective avoidance subsequent to asthma or allergy was observed for childhood cat keeping and adult cat acquisition. Avoidance would produce an apparent protective effect of cats on childhood asthma (large OR, 0.83). Avoidance was generally not observed for dogs or birds.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS:
A part of the protective effects of childhood cats on asthma and allergy can be attributed to selective avoidance.

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Author information

Author/s: Svanes, Cecilie (C); Zock, Jan-Paul (JP); Antó, Josep (J); Dharmage, Shyamali (S); Norbäck, Dan (D); Wjst, Matthias (M); Heinrich, Joachim (J); Jarvis, Deborah (D); de Marco, Roberto (R); Plana, Estel (E); Raherison, Chantal (C); Sunyer, Jordi (J); Early Life Working Group Of The European Community Respiratory Health Survey;

Affiliation: Department of Thoracic Medicine, Institute of Medicine, University of Bergen, Norway. cecile.svanes(-atsign-)med.uib.no

Grants: 2 S07 RR05521-28 (Agency:NCRR NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Multicenter Study; Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology (J Allergy Clin Immunol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Sep; vol 118 (issue 3) : pp 691-8

Dates: Created 2006/09/04; Completed 2006/10/17; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 16950289, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Allergens - immunology
Animals
Animals, Domestic - immunology
Asthma - epidemiology; immunology
Birds
Cats
Child

Child
Child, Preschool
Dogs
Europe - epidemiology
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Longitudinal Studies
Middle Aged

Associated Chemicals: Allergens (0)

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