Fall Babies Have Highest Asthma Rates

Why babies born in the fall have higher asthma rates is still a mystery, but a new study suggests parents concerned might want to choose a different time of the year to deliver a baby. 

The study, appearing in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, finds children born in the fall, just before the cold season, seem more likely to have childhood asthma than those children born during the rest of the year.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University looked at the records of more than 95,000 children and their mothers in Tennessee.

Babies conceived in December or January have a nearly 30 percent higher risk of developing asthma. The months before the winter peak seem to be the worst months and childhood asthma seemed to be more prevalent for those babies born with a respiratory tract infection early in life.

"Although it's difficult to influence birth timing, this study suggests that avoiding conceiving these months may have short and long-term benefits," Dr. Tina Hartert told ABC News.  "Still, we must prove if preventing these respiratory tract infections will prevent a lifetime chronic disease."

Six million children and 22 million people are living with, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Genetics plays a role as well. If both parents have asthma, the chance a child will is about 80 percent. With one parent - the risk drops to 40 percent.

The researchers caution that avoiding colds and respiratory infections early in life is no assurance that one will avoid developing an asthmatic condition later in life.

Whether winter viral infections cause asthma or create a predisposition to asthma development is unknown.

Bottom line- if you have a family history of asthma, you may want to time the birth of a child to avoid conceiving in December or January. #