Stress May Cause Asthma in Kids
Stress May Cause Asthma in Kids
Risk Exists When Environmental Triggers Are Also Present, Study Shows
According to the CDC, the prevalence of asthma increased by 75% between 1980 and 1994, and asthma rates among children under age 5 increased by more than 160% during these years.
About 300 million people worldwide are estimated to have asthma, and the World Health Organization projects that this number will grow to 400 million by the year 2025.
Asthma researcher David B. Penden, MD, of the University of North Carolina tells WebMD that it is increasingly clear that exposure to environmental pollutants like traffic exhaust and cigarette smoke can trigger asthma symptoms in people with the disease.
There is also growing evidence that these exposures play a role in the development of asthma.
The research by McConnell and colleagues is among several recent studies to suggest a role for stress in the development of asthma.
“We are beginning to learn a lot about the role of stress on a host of different diseases related to immune function,” he says.
He cites a series of studies from researchers at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center finding stress to be associated with an increase in wheezing and other asthma risk factors in infancy.
“I think the data are increasingly convincing even though a lot is still not understood about the impact of stress on disease,” he says.
Stress May Cause Asthma in Kids
Risk Exists When Environmental Triggers Are Also Present, Study Shows
Asthma Incidence Growing
According to the CDC, the prevalence of asthma increased by 75% between 1980 and 1994, and asthma rates among children under age 5 increased by more than 160% during these years.
About 300 million people worldwide are estimated to have asthma, and the World Health Organization projects that this number will grow to 400 million by the year 2025.
Asthma researcher David B. Penden, MD, of the University of North Carolina tells WebMD that it is increasingly clear that exposure to environmental pollutants like traffic exhaust and cigarette smoke can trigger asthma symptoms in people with the disease.
There is also growing evidence that these exposures play a role in the development of asthma.
The research by McConnell and colleagues is among several recent studies to suggest a role for stress in the development of asthma.
“We are beginning to learn a lot about the role of stress on a host of different diseases related to immune function,” he says.
He cites a series of studies from researchers at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center finding stress to be associated with an increase in wheezing and other asthma risk factors in infancy.
“I think the data are increasingly convincing even though a lot is still not understood about the impact of stress on disease,” he says.
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