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. 2011 Aug;107(2):120-6.
doi: 10.1016/j.anai.2011.04.018. Epub 2011 May 28.

High environmental relative moldiness index during infancy as a predictor of asthma at 7 years of age

Tiina Reponen  1 , Stephen Vesper, Linda Levin, Elisabet Johansson, Patrick Ryan, Jeffery Burkle, Sergey A Grinshpun, Shu Zheng, David I Bernstein, James Lockey, Manuel Villareal, Gurjit K Khurana Hershey, Grace LeMasters
Affiliations

High environmental relative moldiness index during infancy as a predictor of asthma at 7 years of age

Tiina Reponen et al. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2011 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Mold exposures may contribute to the development of asthma, but previous studies have lacked a standardized approach to quantifying exposures.

Objective: To determine whether mold exposures at the ages of 1 and/or 7 years were associated with asthma at the age of 7 years.

Methods: This study followed up a high-risk birth cohort from infancy to 7 years of age. Mold was assessed by a DNA-based analysis for the 36 molds that make up the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI) at the ages of 1 and 7 years. At the age of 7 years, children were evaluated for allergic sensitization and asthma based on symptom history, spirometry, exhaled nitric oxide, and airway reversibility. A questionnaire was administered to the parent regarding the child's asthma symptoms and other potential cofactors.

Results: At the age of 7 years, 31 of 176 children (18%) were found to be asthmatic. Children living in a high ERMI value (≥5.2) home at 1 year of age had more than twice the risk of developing asthma than those in low ERMI value homes (<5.2) (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10-6.26). Of the other covariates, only parental asthma (aOR, 4.0; 95% CI, 1.69-9.62) and allergic sensitization to house dust mite (aOR, 4.1; 95% CI, 1.55-11.07) were risk factors for asthma development. In contrast, air-conditioning at home reduced the risk of asthma development (aOR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.14-0.83). A high ERMI value at 7 years of age was not associated with asthma at 7 years of age.

Conclusions: Early exposure to molds as measured by ERMI at 1 year of age, but not 7 years of age, significantly increased the risk for asthma at 7 years of age.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The change-point analysis plot. The line at the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI) value of 5.2 represents the threshold above which the loge odds of asthma were relatively constant. The open circles represent the ERMI values in child’s home at age 1 and corresponding probabilities of the child developing asthma at age 7.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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