An international study involving scientists from the University of Granada (UGR) and the Biosanitary Research Institute ibs.GRANADA, has revealed that babies conceived through assisted reproductive techniques have a much higher risk of being asthmatic, specifically, 1,42 times higher than babies gestated through a natural pregnancy.
Asthma is a chronic disease that affects 300 million people in the world and 12% of children in childhood. In this study, which has been published in the prestigious journal Journal of Perinatal Medicine, researchers from the University of Granada have participated, as well as other researchers from Canada, the United Kingdom and the Complutense University of Madrid.
The aim of this study was to assess perinatal and obstetric factors that may increase the risk of developing asthma in offspring. To do this, the researchers used data from five consecutive waves of a total of 7.073 boys and girls, who were studied from birth to the age of 15, thanks to a nationwide macro-study of people born in the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2002, called the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).
The researchers used advanced statistical techniques, such as the Kaplan-Meier survival curve (a method of estimating, for each time, the probability that an event will occur later) to graphically display the risk of developing asthma from early childhood through adolescence.
The results showed that the risk of developing asthma was higher for those babies who were born by assisted reproductive techniques. The risk was also higher if one of her parents was asthmatic, and when the mother was young (ie, less than 30 years old) at the time of delivery.
Rafael A. Caparrós González, lead researcher of the group Ee12-HYGIA: Care and conditioning factors in health and from the Nursing Department of the University of Granada and one of the authors of this research, highlights that, in light of the results of this work, "in conclusion, we can affirm that factors present before we are born (even before conception) are going to impact our health throughout our lives".
Image: In the photograph: Rafael A. Caparrós González
Bibliographic reference: Caparros-Gonzalez, RA, Essau, C., Gouin, JP, Pemau, A., Galvez-Merlin, A., & de la Torre-Luque, A. (2023). Perinatal, obstetric and parental risk factors for asthma in the offspring throughout childhood: a longitudinal cohort study. Journal of Perinatal Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1515/jpm-2022-0543
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