The association betweenToxoplasma gondiiinfection and asthma in the United States: A cross-sectional survey analysis

Abstract

The hygiene hypothesis proposes that declining exposure to microbial influences early in life is implicated in the rising trend of allergy and asthma in high-income societies. Approximately 8% of Americans have been diagnosed with asthma, representing 25 million people, and understanding how the human microbiome affects asthma could help guide exposure recommendations or microbe-based therapeutics. Toxoplasma gondii is a common gastro-intestinal microorganism that may modulate immune function. We used a cross-sectional study design to examine a public database of U.S. residents aged 6 to 80 years or older from the 2012-2014 survey cycles of the American National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to construct an ordinal logistic regression model of the relationship between T. gondii infection and asthma. There was no significant relationship detected between T. gondii infection and asthma when the model was adjusted for key demographic factors.