Healthbuzz

Early Antibiotics May Raise Asthma Risk

by LaVonne on 14/03/06 at 12:28 pm

Studies Suggest Risk Is Double for Treated Babies
By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Medical News

March 13, 2006 — Babies treated with even one course of antibiotics during their first year of life may have twice the risk of developing asthma later in childhood as unexposed babies, an analysis of past research shows.

The findings bolster the theory that an increase in the use of antibiotics early in life may be a factor in the epidemic rise in childhood asthma. They also suggest that greater exposure to antibiotics is associated with greater asthma risk.

Approximately one in eight children in the U.S. has asthma, and asthma rates among children under age 5 have increased especially between 1980 and the mid-1990s, according to figures from the CDC.
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