TOPLINE:
Children with asthma exposed to worsening psychosocial environmental factors during childhood were more likely to have more severe asthma symptoms than those without such exposures.
METHODOLOGY:
The researchers reviewed data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, a nationally representative cohort that also collects data on the health, psychosocial, and environmental status of parents, and used three multivariate models to assess the impact of psychosocial environmental factors on asthma symptoms at ages 1 year, 4-5 years, and 14-15 years.
The study population included 3917 children aged 0-15 years who were sorted into three asthma symptom trajectory groups (low/no asthma, transient high asthma, and persistent high asthma); asthma symptoms were defined as a history of chest wheezing lasting at least a week within the past 12 months.
The researchers identified several psychosocial environmental factors as exposure variables on the basis of literature reviews; these factors were maternal depression, parents’ financial hardship, parental availability, and parental stressful life events.
TAKEAWAY:
The mean scores of psychosocial factors for the overall study population remained stable over time, but groups of children exposed to bad trajectories of psychosocial factors were significantly more likely to have transient high and persistent high asthma symptoms.
In the first year of life, only parents’ stressful life events were significantly associated with the persistent high asthma symptom trajectory group in an adjusted analysis.
At age 4-5 years, maternal depression, low parental availability, and parents’ stressful life events were significantly associated with persistent high asthma; parents’ financial hardship was significantly associated with transient high asthma symptoms.
At age 14-15 years, children exposed to “moderate and increasing” maternal depression, “moderate and declining” parents’ financial hardship, and “moderate and increasing” parents’ stressful life events were significantly associated with persistent high asthma vs no or low asthma, with relative risk ratios of 1.55, 1.40, and 1.77, respectively.
IN PRACTICE:
The study findings highlight the need for policymakers to take action to improve asthma control in children by reducing exposure to harmful psychosocial environmental factors, the researchers concluded.
SOURCE:
The lead author of the study was K.M. Shahunja, MBBS, PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. The study was published online in Pediatric Pulmonology on October 23, 2023.
LIMITATIONS:
The study is the first known to examine asthma symptom trajectories at different developmental stages, but participant attrition and missing values were limiting factors, as was the inability to account for all potential psychosocial environmental factors that might influence asthma symptoms in childhood.
DISCLOSURES:
The study received no outside funding. The researchers had no financial conflicts to disclose.
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