TY - JOUR T1 - Sleeping on animal fur in the first three months of life reduces the risk of asthma in later childhood JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - P1944 AU - Christina Tischer AU - Marie Standl AU - Irina Lehmann AU - Beate Schaaf AU - Andrea Von Berg AU - Joachim Heinrich Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1944.abstract N2 - The suggested accumulated exposure to microbial agents in animal skins over time might have protective and harmful consequences in relation to health in later childhood.The aim of the investigation was to study whether sleeping on animal skin shortly after birth is associated with asthma and allergies until the age of 10 years in the population based LISAplus birth cohort.Exposure to animal skin during the first three months of life as well as risk factor and health outcome information was obtained periodically up to 10 years by parental questionnaires. In addition, information on specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) to aero-allergens was available at 10 years. Associations between exposure to animal skin and health were evaluated using logistic regression analyses and generalized estimating equations (GEE), adjusted for confounders.In total, 2441 children were included in the analysis. Sleeping on animal skin was very common with a prevalence of 55%. In adjusted logistic regression analyses, sleeping on animal skin showed significant inverse associations with ever wheezing (aOR (95%CI): 0.75 (0.60-0.94), ever physician-diagnosed asthma (0.62 (0.39-1.00)) and ever physician-diagnosed hay fever (0.65 (0.46-0.92)) up to ten years of age. Similar results were observed for the GEE analysis. There was no significant association for physician-diagnosed eczema and allergic sensitization to aero-allergens at 10 years.The animal skin might serve as a reservoir of numerous viable and non-viable microbial compounds and might follow similar protective mechanisms in relation to asthma and allergy as it has been observed in farm and rural environments with higher microbial exposure. ER -