ANTIBIOTICS IN THE FIRST MONTH OF LIFE DOUBLES CHANCES OF ENDING UP WITH ALLERGIES AND ASTHMA
Case in point is a study that was published earlier this year in the February issue of The American Journal of Epidemiology. The study, done by four doctors at Yale University’s School of Public Health’s Center for Perinatal, Pediatric, and Environmental Epidemiology, hit us with yet another example of the problems with current antibiotic prescription habits. This study looked at the relationship between early antibiotic use (1st 6 months of life), and the incidence of asthma & allergies at 6 years of age —- in over 1,400 children. Antibiotic exposure was associated with a 52% increased risk of asthma overall. However, there was a staggering 89% increase in both problems in children with no prior family history! The authors concluded that early antibiotic use is associated with developing both ASTHMA and ALLERGIES. Is this information anything new? Not really.
In the June 2007 issue of CHEST, the journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, carried a similar study concluding that, “children receiving antibiotics in the first year of life were at greater risk for developing asthma by age 7 than those not receiving antibiotics“. The risk for asthma doubled (100% increase) in children receiving antibiotics during their first year. Do you think that maybe its time to avoid antibiotics?