Pediatr Allergy Respir Dis.  2011 Dec;21(4):250-260.

Is Mode of Delivery Associated with an Increased Risk for Childhood Asthma?

• Kim BS

Abstract

Under the hygiene hypothesis, children born by cesarean section (CS) may consequently have an increased risk of asthma and other allergic diseases. CS has been shown to have a delayed and altered development in establishment of gut flora and altered cytokine production. Concerns about the relations between CS and the risk of children's asthma are rising due to the growing number of CS performed in many countries. However, finding the concrete evidence to correlate CS with higher risk of asthma is still controversial. There were significant covariate imbalance between groups of children born by CS vs. vaginal delivery that include the number of maternal age, gestational age, birth weight, complication during pregnancy, complication during labor, socioeconomic status, a parental history of atopy, and maternal smoking history. And there were considerable heterogeneity in methods and study subjects between the studies of delivery by CS and the offspring's risk of asthma and other allergic diseases. Therefore, as we proceed into the further study, researchers must refer to the literatures and look for the best way proving their hypothesis that are based on the methodological subject group. Of which should be accordance with the research purposes. Also, researchers have to search for identifying the core biological mechanism in order to know whether there is a causal relationship exists between the CS and asthma.

Keyword

Mode of delivery; Cesarean section; Vaginal delivery; Asthma; Allergic disease; Risk factors

MeSH Terms

Asthma
Birth Weight
Cesarean Section
Child
Female
Gestational Age
Humans
Hygiene Hypothesis
Maternal Age
Parents
Population Characteristics
Pregnancy
Risk Factors
Smoke
Smoking
Social Class
Smoke

Reference

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