Austrian children living on a farm have less hay fever, asthma and allergic sensitization

Riedler, Josef; Eder, Waltraud; Oberfeld, Gerd; Schreuer, Mynda

doi:10.1046/j.1365-2222.2000.00799.x

Cited by 520 publications

(429 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(23 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

361

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Estimates from the video questionnaire for the prevalence of wheeze in the previous 12 months were even lower, ranging 1.3-3.3% for the centres in China, whereas the global mean was 7.3%. The low prevalence of asthma-like symptoms and reported asthma in rural areas in China is consistent with recent reports of the scarcity of asthma and atopy among children raised on farms in several countries [7][8][9][10][11]. It has been postulated that the lifestyle associated with living on a farm (larger family size, more pets, heating frequently using wood or coal, less maternal smoking and more dampness) may be responsible for the low prevalence.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

The prevalence of asthma and asthma-like symptoms among adults in rural Beijing, China

Chan‐Yeung¹,

Zhang²,

Tu³

et al. 2002

European Respiratory Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

No data have been reported on the prevalence of asthma in rural areas of China. The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence of asthmalike symptoms, reported asthma and reported asthma attacks in rural Beijing, China, and to compare the prevalence in 20-44-yr-old participants with those reported for Canada and the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS).For a cross-sectional survey, 30 villages were randomly selected in the counties of Shunyi and Tongxian, 50 km north and east respectively of the city of Beijing and within the municipality of Beijing. The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease questionnaire on bronchial symptoms translated into Chinese was completed by village doctors for each individual of w15 yrs. The survey was completed by 22,561 individuals, representing 98% of the eligible population.The prevalence of asthma-like symptoms and reported asthma attacks was higher in females than in males and increased with age. Smoking significantly increased the prevalence of symptoms; the effect in females was greater than in males. Among the 20-44-yr-olds, the prevalence of reported asthma attacks in the previous 12 months was 0.67% in rural Beijing, very much lower than that reported in ECRHS centres (3.1%), urban Canada (6.9%) and semirural Canada (5.1%), after adjusting for age and sex. The prevalence of asthma-like symptoms was also very low in rural Beijing compared with ECRHS centres and Canada.It is concluded that the prevalence of asthma-like symptoms and reported asthma was low in rural China compared with other countries, consistent with reports of the relative scarcity of asthma in farms and the "hygiene hypothesis".

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

The prevalence of asthma and asthma-like symptoms among adults in rural Beijing, China

Chan‐Yeung¹,

Zhang²,

Tu³

et al. 2002

European Respiratory Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Only one farm child was allergic at 3 years of age, as compared with ten in the non-farm group. The protective effect of growing up on a small, family-owned dairy farm is in line with previous studies [2,4,36]. Recent randomized trials point to postponement of introduction of solid foods as a strong risk factor for development of food allergy [15,16] and several observational studies have pointed to delayed introduction of fish as predictive of high risk of becoming allergic [22–29].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Late introduction of fish and eggs is associated with increased risk of allergy development – results from the FARMFLORA birth cohort

Jönsson

Barman

Brekke

et al. 2017

Food & Nutrition Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The prevalence of allergy is markedly low in children growing up on farms. An increasing number of studies indicate that the timing of food introduction may affect allergy development. We aimed to investigate if protection against allergy in farm environments may be mediated through differences in food-introduction practices between farm and non-farm families, using an explorative approach. Twenty-eight farm and 37 non-farm children were included in the FARMFLORA birth cohort. Practices of breastfeeding and introduction of formulas and complementary foods were collected by questionnaires at 6, 12, and 18 months of age. Allergy was diagnosed by pediatricians at 3 years of age. The only difference in food-introduction practices observed between farm and non-farm children was an earlier introduction of nuts in farmers (median month: 11 [IQR: 8–6] in farmers, 15 [12–19] in non-farmers). One farm child (4%) and 10 non-farm children (27%) were allergic at 3 years of age. Lower risk of allergy development was associated with early exclusive breastfeeding (continuous variable; OR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.39–0.89), but also having received eggs (OR = 0.08, 95% CI: 0.13–0.54) and fish (logistic regression not applicable, P = 0.01 in likelihood ratio testing [χ2]) at 10 months of age or earlier compared to later. Our results were not affected by reverse causation, as judged by a questionnaire sent to the families in retrospect. Timing of introduction of complementary foods is unlikely to contribute to the lower risk of allergy among farm children. Although early exclusive breastfeeding was associated with a lower rate of allergy development, postponed introduction of complementary foods might increase the risk of developing allergy. Owing to the limited sample size, our results are only indicative, but support prior findings.

show abstract

“…Swiss school children showed to have atopy, measured by radioallergosorbent test, and symptoms of hay fever significantly less frequently than children from the same area who have not been growing up on a farm (114). This inverse association between exposure to farm/country environment in childhood and the subsequent development of atopic disorders has been confirmed by further studies in Germany (115), Austria (116,117), Finland (118), Denmark (119), Canada (120) and France (121) There is also some evidence to suggest that exposure to country living also in later childhood or even in adulthood 'ever living in the country' may confer protection against asthma and atopy implicating that immunomodulation may not be restricted to exposure in the first years of the life only (121). Importantly, a study from New Zealand has shown that the results obtained from Europe and Canada are not necessarily applicable to other continents and countries.…”

Section: Exposure To Farm/country Environment and Petsmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…However, none of these factors have been shown to explain the differences to any major extent. By contrast, contact to livestock and poultry has been found to explain much of the inverse association between farm environment and atopy (36,115,116). These data suggest that exposure to a wide spectrum of microorganisms and bacterial products, such as LPS, may be responsible for the lower prevalence of atopic diseases among individuals grown up on a farm or rural area.…”

Section: Exposure To Farm/country Environment and Petsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Asthma and atopy – the price of affluence?

Hertzen

Haahtela²

2004

Allergy

121

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Irrespective of improved knowledge of many aspects of atopic diseases, the unfavorable trends in their prevalence particularly among children could not have been reversed. A growing body of evidence suggests that something may lack from our societal affluence that has the capacity to provide protection against the development of atopic diseases. Much attention during the last years has been devoted to the hygiene hypothesis. This review outlines the impact of environment and lifestyle, particularly from the perspective of the East–West gradient, on the development of atopic diseases, with a special emphasis on the hygiene hypothesis in its broadest sense.

show abstract

Austrian children living on a farm have less hay fever, asthma and allergic sensitization

Cited by 520 publications

References 22 publications

The prevalence of asthma and asthma-like symptoms among adults in rural Beijing, China

The prevalence of asthma and asthma-like symptoms among adults in rural Beijing, China

Late introduction of fish and eggs is associated with increased risk of allergy development – results from the FARMFLORA birth cohort

Asthma and atopy – the price of affluence?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About