Asthma, Rhinitis, Other Respiratory DiseasesPets, parental atopy, and asthma in adults☆,☆☆
Section snippets
Study design
This study was a population-based incident case-control study. The source population consisted of adults 21 to 63 years of age living in a geographically defined administrative area in South Finland with a population of 440,913 in 1997. The study was approved by the ethics committees of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and the Tampere University Hospital.
Definition and selection of cases
We systematically recruited all new cases of asthma, first in the city of Tampere beginning on September 15, 1997, and then from
Characteristics of case subjects and control subjects
A larger proportion of patients than control subjects were women, were young, were current smokers, were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke and to visible mold or mold odor at work, and had lower education (Table I).
Characteristics Case subjects n (%) Control subjects n (%) Total 521 932 Sex Male 175 (33.6) 438 (47.0) Female 346 (66.4) 494 (53.0) Age (y) 21-29 108 (20.7) 141 (15.1) 30-39 107 (20.5) 224 (24.0) 40-49 125 (24.0) 254 (27.3) 50-59 140 (26.9) 240 (25.8) 60-64 41 (7.9)
Discussion
The incident case-control study is very efficient compared with a cohort study, yielding a similar amount of information. Our study includes the largest number of new asthma cases among all the studies addressing the relations between pet keeping and the risk of development of asthma in adults. The present study corresponds to a follow-up of approximately 100,000 adults for 5 years if we assume a realistic asthma incidence of 1 case per 1000 person-years. Our results provide evidence that
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2021, Science of the Total EnvironmentCitation Excerpt :One Chinese prevalence study among women showed a positive association between pet-keeping and doctor diagnosed asthma (Dong et al., 2013). Another prospective study from Finland reported furry pets increased adult asthma incidence (Jaakkola et al., 2002). Moreover, one European multicenter study reported that acquiring a cat in adulthood increased onset of cat allergen sensitization, which could increase the risk of asthma (Olivieri et al., 2012).
Indoor molds and lung function in healthy adults
2014, Respiratory MedicineResidential characteristics and household risk factors and respiratory diseases in Chinese women: The Seven Northeast Cities (SNEC) Study
2013, Science of the Total EnvironmentCitation Excerpt :It is likely that these two risk factors may be interrelated, as high levels of humidity and moisture in the home may increase the prevalence of bacterial and fungal species. Several other studies have reported the association between humidifier use and bacterial contamination, promotion of mold and mildew growth in a warm, humid indoor environment (Dales et al., 2008; Jaakkola et al., 2002; Fisk et al., 2010; Mendell et al., 2011). Our results showed no association of indoor coal combustion with respiratory diseases after controlling for confounders, which was similar to the findings from the Four Chinese Cities Study (Zhang et al., 2002).
Influence of heredity on asthma continues to adulthood
2013, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
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Supported by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland and the Finnish Work Environment Fund.
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Reprint requests: Jouni J. K. Jaakkola, MD, DSc, PhD, The Nordic School of Public Health, Box 12133, SE-402 42 Göteborg, Sweden.