Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2019 Aug;35(3):289-303.
doi: 10.1002/smi.2861. Epub 2019 Apr 4.

The association between stressful life events and respiratory infections during the first 4 years of life: The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young study

Roswith Roth  1   2 , Kristian Lynch  3 , Heikki Hyöty  4   5 , Maria Lönnrot  6 , Kimberly A Driscoll  7 , Suzanne Bennett Johnson  8 ; TEDDY Study Group
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

The association between stressful life events and respiratory infections during the first 4 years of life: The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young study

Roswith Roth et al. Stress Health. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to conduct a prospective analysis of the association between negative life events (NLEs) and respiratory infections in children genetically at risk for islet autoimmunity (IA) and type 1 diabetes (T1D). Long- and short-term temporal associations between NLEs and rate of respiratory infection episodes (RIEs) in 5,618 children in The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young study for at least 1 up to 4 years were analysed. All models were adjusted for demographic, day care, season of infection, and psychosocial factors associated with the rate of child RIEs between study visits. The rate of child RIEs was 26% higher in Europe (Sweden, Finland, Germany) than in the United States (rate ratio [RR] = 1.26, p < 0.001). However, the percentage of child NLEs (odds ratio [OR] = 1.18, p < 0.001) and mother NLEs (OR = 1.83, p < 0.001) was higher in the United States compared with Europe. In both continents (Europe, RR = 1.12, p < 0.001; United States, RR = 1.07, p = 0.006), high child cumulative NLEs (>1 NLE per year since study inception) was significantly associated with an increased rate of child RIEs. This large-scale prospective study confirms observations that stress may increase the susceptibility for infections in paediatric populations and suggests at least one mechanism by which stress could increase risk for IA and T1D in genetically at risk children.

Keywords: autoimmunity; longitudinal study; negative life events; respiratory childhood infections; stress; type 1 diabetes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Rate of Respiratory Infection Episodes (RIEs) and Negative Life Events (NLEs) by Age of Child and Continent of Residence
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Rate of Respiratory Infection Episodes (RIEs) by Age of Child, Continent of Residence and Mother and Child Cumulative Negative Life Events (NLEs).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Andre M, Hedin K, Hakansson A, Molstad S, Rodhe N, & Petersson C (2007). More physician consultations and antibiotic prescriptions in families with high concern about infectious illness - adequate response to infection-prone child or self-fulfilling prophecy? The Journal of Family Practice, 24(4), 302–307. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmm016. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Atkinson MA, & Eisenbarth GS (2001). Type 1 diabetes: new perspectives on disease pathogenesis and treatment. Lancet, 358(9277), 221–229. 10.1016/S0140-6736(01)05415-0. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Baxter J, Vehik K, Johnson SB, Lermark B, Roth S Simell T, and the TEDDY Study Group (2012) Differences in recruitment and early retention among ethnic minority participants in a large pediatric cohort: the TEDDY Study. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 33(4), 633–640. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2012.03.009. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bergmann RL, Diepgen TL, Kuss O, Bergmann KE, Kujat J Dudenhausen JW., … and the MAS‐study group (2002). Breastfeeding duration is a risk factor for atopic eczema. Clin Exp Allergy, 32(2), 205–209. 10.1046/j.1365-2222.2002.01274.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Beyan H, Wen L, & Leslie RD (2012). Guts, germs, and meals: the origin of type 1 diabetes. Current diabetes reports, 12(5), 456–462. 10.1007/s11892-012-0298-z. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding