New study about vaccination and asthma
Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 7:59 am
Dear all,
just for the info, as I'm sure it will cause some more discussion about
the Pros and Cons of vaccination...(I don't have access to an original
article or further information!)
--------------------
http://tinyurl.com/nhyoq
MUNICH, Germany (AFP) - New data released at a respiratory conference
has slammed a belief that vaccinations cause babies to develop asthma or
make their asthma worse.
Timely vaccination does not increase the risk of asthma and in fact may
even protect against it, doctors from the University of Bern in
Switzerland and Britain's University of Leicester said Wednesday.
-----------------------
I suppose more information can be got from some articles from Dr.
Claudia Kuehni, Bern, as she's the one obviously involved for years in
studies about asthma, e.g. an abstract of a recent article of hers in
the Eur Respir J 2006:
"Parental understanding of "wheeze" and its impact on asthma prevalence
estimates
G. Michel 1, M. Silverman 2, M-P.F. Strippoli 1, M. Zwahlen 1, A.M.
Brooke 2, J. Grigg 2, C.E. Kuehni 3*
1 Swiss Paediatric Respiratory Research Group, Dept. of Social and
Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, CH - 3012 Bern, Switzerland
2 The Leicester Children's Asthma Centre, Division of Child Health, Dept
of Infection, Immunity & Inflammation, University of Leicester,
Leicester, LE2 7LX, UK
3 Swiss Paediatric Respiratory Research Group, Dept. of Social and
Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, CH - 3012 Bern, Switzerland;
and The Leicester Children's Asthma Centre, Division of Child Health,
Dept of Infection, Immunity & Inflammation, University of Leicester,
Leicester, LE2 7LX, UK
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
kuehni@ispm.unibe.ch.
The epidemiology of wheeze in children, assessed by questionnaires, is
dependent on parents' understanding of the term "wheeze".
In a questionnaire survey of a random population sample of 4236 children
aged 6-10 years we assessed parents' definition of wheeze, determined
predictors of a correct definition and assessed the potential impact of
incorrect answers on prevalence estimates from the survey.
Current wheeze was reported by 13.2% of children. Overall 83.5% of
parents correctly identified "whistling or squeaking" as the definition
of wheeze, the proportion being higher for parents reporting wheezy
children (90.4%). Frequent attacks of reported wheeze (adjusted odds
ratio 3.0), maternal history of asthma (1.5) and maternal education
(1.5) were significantly associated with a correct answer, while the
converse was found for south Asian ethnicity (0.6), first language not
English (0.6) and living in a deprived neighbourhood (0.6).
We showed that misunderstanding could lead to important bias in
assessing the prevalence of wheeze, leading to an underestimate in
children from south Asian and deprived family backgrounds. Prevalence
estimates for the most severe categories of wheeze might be less
affected by this bias and questionnaire surveys on wheeze should
incorporate measures of parents' understanding of the term "wheeze".
---------------------
Best,
Gaby
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaby Rottler,
Germany
rottler@curantur.de
http://www.curantur.de
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
just for the info, as I'm sure it will cause some more discussion about
the Pros and Cons of vaccination...(I don't have access to an original
article or further information!)
--------------------
http://tinyurl.com/nhyoq
MUNICH, Germany (AFP) - New data released at a respiratory conference
has slammed a belief that vaccinations cause babies to develop asthma or
make their asthma worse.
Timely vaccination does not increase the risk of asthma and in fact may
even protect against it, doctors from the University of Bern in
Switzerland and Britain's University of Leicester said Wednesday.
-----------------------
I suppose more information can be got from some articles from Dr.
Claudia Kuehni, Bern, as she's the one obviously involved for years in
studies about asthma, e.g. an abstract of a recent article of hers in
the Eur Respir J 2006:
"Parental understanding of "wheeze" and its impact on asthma prevalence
estimates
G. Michel 1, M. Silverman 2, M-P.F. Strippoli 1, M. Zwahlen 1, A.M.
Brooke 2, J. Grigg 2, C.E. Kuehni 3*
1 Swiss Paediatric Respiratory Research Group, Dept. of Social and
Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, CH - 3012 Bern, Switzerland
2 The Leicester Children's Asthma Centre, Division of Child Health, Dept
of Infection, Immunity & Inflammation, University of Leicester,
Leicester, LE2 7LX, UK
3 Swiss Paediatric Respiratory Research Group, Dept. of Social and
Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, CH - 3012 Bern, Switzerland;
and The Leicester Children's Asthma Centre, Division of Child Health,
Dept of Infection, Immunity & Inflammation, University of Leicester,
Leicester, LE2 7LX, UK
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
kuehni@ispm.unibe.ch.
The epidemiology of wheeze in children, assessed by questionnaires, is
dependent on parents' understanding of the term "wheeze".
In a questionnaire survey of a random population sample of 4236 children
aged 6-10 years we assessed parents' definition of wheeze, determined
predictors of a correct definition and assessed the potential impact of
incorrect answers on prevalence estimates from the survey.
Current wheeze was reported by 13.2% of children. Overall 83.5% of
parents correctly identified "whistling or squeaking" as the definition
of wheeze, the proportion being higher for parents reporting wheezy
children (90.4%). Frequent attacks of reported wheeze (adjusted odds
ratio 3.0), maternal history of asthma (1.5) and maternal education
(1.5) were significantly associated with a correct answer, while the
converse was found for south Asian ethnicity (0.6), first language not
English (0.6) and living in a deprived neighbourhood (0.6).
We showed that misunderstanding could lead to important bias in
assessing the prevalence of wheeze, leading to an underestimate in
children from south Asian and deprived family backgrounds. Prevalence
estimates for the most severe categories of wheeze might be less
affected by this bias and questionnaire surveys on wheeze should
incorporate measures of parents' understanding of the term "wheeze".
---------------------
Best,
Gaby
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaby Rottler,
Germany
rottler@curantur.de
http://www.curantur.de
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~