Mold Exposure Increases Kids Risk of Asthma
Spike Mafford/ThinkstockCINCINNATI, OH – According to study results published in the August issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, nearly nine million children in the U.S. have asthma, and previous studies have shown that mold exposure contributes to the development of the condition, particularly in children.
The study confirms the early findings that kids exposed to higher levels of mold at one year of age were almost three times as likely to develop asthma by the age of seven as kids with lower mold exposures during infancy. Mold exposures at seven years of age were not associated with asthma at that age.
Tiina Reponen, PhD, lead study author and University of Cincinnati (UC) professor of environmental health explains that “early life exposure to mold seems to play a critical role in childhood asthma development." Professor Reponen said, "This study should motivate expectant parents…to correct water damage and reduce the mold burden in their homes to protect the respiratory health of their children.”
University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center researchers analyzed seven years of comprehensive data for 176 children to evaluate the effects of mold exposure in early life.
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