Sofia Tsabouri1, Georgios Lavasidis2,3, Anthoula Efstathiadou2, Margarita Papasavva4, Vanessa Bellou2, Helio Bergantini2, Konstantinos Priftis5, Evangelia E Ntzani6,7,8. 1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece. 2. Evidence-Based Medicine Unit, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece. 3. Department of Pediatrics, Klinikum Stadt Soest, Soest, Germany. 4. General Hospital of Ioannina "Hatzikosta", Ioannina, Greece. 5. Third Department of Paediatrics, University of Athens School of Medicine, Attikon University Hospital, Athens, Greece. 6. Evidence-Based Medicine Unit, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece. entzani@uoi.gr. 7. Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice, School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA. entzani@uoi.gr. 8. Institute of Biosciences, University Research Center of loannina, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece. entzani@uoi.gr.
Abstract
Genetic and environmental factors during early development may influence lung growth and impact lung function. We performed a meta-analysis of epidemiological studies examining the association between conception history of assisted reproduction techniques (ART) and childhood asthma. We searched PubMed and Embase up to November 2020 for relevant observational studies and synthesized data data under a fixed or random effects model as appropriate. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 metric. We identified 13 individual studies including 3,226,386 participants. We did not observe a statistically significant association between ART and physician-diagnosed asthma (n = 9, random OR 1.16; 95% CI 0.94-1.43; I2 61%). We observed a statistically significant association between ART and prescription of asthma medications (n = 6, fixed OR 1.27; 95% CI 1.23-1.32; I2 0%). Wheezing was also associated with ART (n = 4, fixed OR 1.71; 95% CI 1.08-2.72; I2 0%). When we combined studies using any asthma definition, a statistically significant association was observed (random OR 1.19; 95% CI 1.05-1.34; I2 80%). Conclusion: The available observational evidence suggests that the risk of asthma is higher among children born after ART. The mechanism and potential sources of bias behind this association are under scrutiny, and further work is needed to establish causality. What is Known: • "Positive" epidemiological signals for the association between assisted reproduction techniques and asthma stemming from large studies were not replicated by subsequent research. • Any available research synthesis effort so far bears no quantitative aspect. What is New: • The available observational evidence suggests that the risk of asthma is higher among children born after ART. • The mechanism and potential sources of bias behind this association are under scrutiny.
Genetic and environmental factors during early development may influence lung growth and impact lung function. We performed a meta-analysis of epidemiological studies examining the association between conception history of assisted reproduction techniques (ART) and childhood asthma. We searched PubMed and Embase up to November 2020 for relevant observational studies and synthesized data data under a fixed or random effects model as appropriate. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 metric. We identified 13 individual studies including 3,226,386 participants. We did not observe a statistically significant association between ART and physician-diagnosed asthma (n = 9, random OR 1.16; 95% CI 0.94-1.43; I2 61%). We observed a statistically significant association between ART and prescription of asthma medications (n = 6, fixed OR 1.27; 95% CI 1.23-1.32; I2 0%). Wheezing was also associated with ART (n = 4, fixed OR 1.71; 95% CI 1.08-2.72; I2 0%). When we combined studies using any asthma definition, a statistically significant association was observed (random OR 1.19; 95% CI 1.05-1.34; I2 80%). Conclusion: The available observational evidence suggests that the risk of asthma is higher among children born after ART. The mechanism and potential sources of bias behind this association are under scrutiny, and further work is needed to establish causality. What is Known: • "Positive" epidemiological signals for the association between assisted reproduction techniques and asthma stemming from large studies were not replicated by subsequent research. • Any available research synthesis effort so far bears no quantitative aspect. What is New: • The available observational evidence suggests that the risk of asthma is higher among children born after ART. • The mechanism and potential sources of bias behind this association are under scrutiny.
Authors: J Gerlich; N Benecke; A S Peters-Weist; S Heinrich; D Roller; J Genuneit; G Weinmayr; D Windstetter; H Dressel; U Range; D Nowak; E von Mutius; K Radon; C Vogelberg Journal: Allergy Date: 2017-12-15 Impact factor: 13.146
Authors: Eleonora P Uphoff; Philippa K Bird; Joseph Maria Antó; Mikel Basterrechea; Andrea von Berg; Anna Bergström; Jean Bousquet; Leda Chatzi; Maria Pia Fantini; Amparo Ferrero; Ulrike Gehring; Davide Gori; Joachim Heinrich; Thomas Keil; Inger Kull; Susanne Lau; Dieter Maier; Isabelle Momas; Silvia Narduzzi; Daniela Porta; Fanny Ranciere; Theano Roumeliotaki; Tamara Schikowski; Henriette A Smit; Marie Standl; Jordi Sunyer; John Wright Journal: ERJ Open Res Date: 2017-07-03