IntroductionAsthma and respiratory disease account for increasing childhood morbidity, placing a burden on the health care system and on affected individuals and families. In 2007, approximately 6.7 million children under the age of 18 had asthma [1], with rates increasing to nearly 7 million (9.4%) by 2008 [2]. As of 2008, more than 14% of children 0-17 had been diagnosed with asthma [2], with children 0-4 years demonstrating the greatest use of health care services for asthma related illness [1]. Increases in childhood respiratory disease over the past decades have highlighted the need to identify specific factors associated with © 2010 American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Corresponding Author and Request for Reprints: Elizabeth W. Triche, Brown University, Department of Community Health/ Epidemiology, Box G-S121-2, 121 S. Main St., Providence, RI 02912, Tel: 401 863-1987, Fax: 401 863-3713, Elizabeth_triche@brown.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
Conflict of Interest:Michael Bracken and Paige Wickner work as occasional contractors for Pfizer although the research in this paper is not related in any way to compensation received from this company. All other authors do not have any conflict of interest. early childhood wheezing and childhood asthma. The rise in prevalence of asthma is too rapid to be due to genetic mutations, and air pollution has actually declined in many areas where asthma rates have been increasing.
NIH Public AccessRecent research has suggested that maternal dietary factors during pregnancy may influence the development of childhood asthma [3,4]. The intrauterine environment provides the substrate for many important processes including lung and early immune system development, and support of optimal fetal growth requires adequate maternal nutritional status. Lung development in-utero is apparent within 3-4 weeks after fertilization and continues throughout gestation and childhood [5]. [6] It is possible, then, that inadequate nutritional status during gestation may negatively impact childhood respiratory health [3,4], particularly during critical periods of embryonic and fetal growth.Maternal anemia, an indicator of overall nutritional status, has been linked to a number of adverse outcomes including infant mortality, preterm delivery, poor gestational weight gain, low birth weight, and poor infant neurocognitive performance [7][8][9]. Anemia is prevalent in the 4 pregnant population in the United States (9.3% in the general pregnant population and up to 27% in low incom...