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Exposure to toxics during pregnancy and childhood and asthma in children: A pilot study

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  • Published: 04 May 2017
  • Volume 7, pages 147–154, (2017)
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Exposure to toxics during pregnancy and childhood and asthma in children: A pilot study
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  • Souheil Hallit1,2,3,4,5 &
  • Pascale Salameh1,6 

  • 77 Accesses

  • 26 Citations

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Abstract

Environmental factors, pesticides, alcohol and smoking are linked to asthma in children. The association of toxic substances exposure with asthma has not been evaluated. Our objective is to assess such associations among children aged less than 16 years old. This is a cross-sectional study, conducted between January and May 2015, using a sample of Lebanese students from private schools in Beirut and Mount Lebanon. Out of 700 distributed questionnaires, 527 (75.2%) were returned to us. Verbal informed consent was also obtained from all parents prior to participating in the study. A significant association was found between waterpipe smoking and diagnosed asthma (p = 0.003; ORa = 13.25; 95% CI 2.472– 71.026). Alcohol during pregnancy, waterpipe smoking during pregnancy and parents respiratory problems significantly increased the risk of respiratory problems by approximately 5 times, 6 times and 2 times respectively (p = 0.016; ORa = 4.889; 95% CI 1.339–17.844, p = 0.021; ORa = 6.083; 95% CI 1.314– 28.172, p = 0.004; ORa = 1.748; 95% CI 1.197–2.554 respectively). Waterpipe smoking, alcohol during pregnancy, recurrent otitis and humidity at home seem to be significantly correlated with asthma in children. Spreading awareness by health care professionals is needed to permit a reduction of the prevalence of these allergic diseases, especially asthma, in children.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lebanese University, School of Pharmacy, Hadath, Lebanon

    Souheil Hallit & Pascale Salameh

  2. Universite Saint Joseph, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beirut, Lebanon

    Souheil Hallit

  3. Universite Saint-Esprit Kaslik, Faculty of Medicine, Kaslik, Lebanon

    Souheil Hallit

  4. Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross, P.O. Box 60096, Jal Eddib, Lebanon

    Souheil Hallit

  5. Occupational Health Environment Research Team, U1219 BPH Bordeaux Population Health Research Center Inserm, Université de Bordeaux, France

    Souheil Hallit

  6. Lebanese University, Faculty of Medicine, Hadath, Lebanon

    Pascale Salameh

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  1. Souheil Hallit
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Souheil Hallit.

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Peer review under responsibility of Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.

Study adds: The results of this study showed an increased risk of asthma in children with waterpipe smoking in pregnancy and an increased risk of respiratory problems (diagnosed and probable asthma) with alcohol intake during pregnancy, waterpipe smoking during pregnancy and parents respiratory problems. Spreading awareness by health care professionals (doctors and pharmacists) is needed to reduce the prevalence of this disease in children.

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Hallit, S., Salameh, P. Exposure to toxics during pregnancy and childhood and asthma in children: A pilot study. J Epidemiol Glob Health 7, 147–154 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jegh.2017.04.004

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  • Received: 21 September 2015

  • Accepted: 21 April 2017

  • Published: 04 May 2017

  • Issue Date: January 2017

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jegh.2017.04.004

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Keywords

  • Asthma
  • Detergents
  • Pesticides
  • Alcohol
  • Smoking
  • Pregnancy
  • Infancy
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