Month of birth and gametopathy

Monthly variations in the incidence of births of 441 patients with Down's syndrome, 317 patients with Klinefelter's syndrome, and 126 patients with Turner's syndrome were studied. These three chromosomal aberrations showed almost identical seasonal variation with two maxima, a greater maximum in the period February to May and a smaller one in September. These fluctuations synchronous with those of the "normal" birth curve, but have a greater amplitude. To explain the variations, the following hypothesis is proposed: Seasonal fluctuations in the "normal" conception curve are caused by two basic oestric patterns, of which a phylogenetically younger (polyoestrus) is superimposed upon the phylogenetically older one (mono- or dioestrus). The latter is influenced by climatologic factors. The seasonal fluctuations in the "normal" conception curve can be explained by alternating periods of normal, i.e. ovulatory, and of disturbed, i.e. anovulatory, cycles. The increase of "pathological conceptions" during spring and autumn and the crease during winter and summer are caused by interference of the two basic oestric patterns. Such interference might retard the preovulatory or intrafollicular ripening of the egg cell, resulting in overripeness ovopathy. In addition, spermatopathy, too, could be influenced by climatalogic factors. Birth curves of parents of patients with Down's syndrome may suggest a constitutional factor, predisposing to "pathologic conceptions".     

Potentiation of experimental allergic thyroiditis in rats adipectomized at birth.

The effect of neonatal extirpation of the interscapular brown adipose tissue (adipectomy) on the development of experimental allergic thyroiditis in 8-week-old inbred Lewis rats was studied. The incidence and intensity of disease were much higher, and delayed skin reactions significantly stronger, in adipectomized rats than in control sham-adipectomized rats.     

The effect of BCG vaccine at birth on the development of atopy or allergic disease in young children.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to infectious diseases may reduce the development of asthma or allergy. In particular, the role of the BCG vaccine in modulating asthma or allergy has been a source of speculation. OBJECTIVE: To study newborns from 3 international sites to evaluate the prospective effect of BCG vaccine on allergic diseases or atopic development. METHODS: Infants were enrolled from newborn and well-infant clinics in Thailand, Argentina, and Turkey. The standard BCG vaccine for each country was given at birth. Parents who consented to have their infant included in the protocol completed an allergy family questionnaire. Infants underwent a standard purified protein derivative (PPD) test at 9 to 12 months of age, and the reaction size was measured. At the age of 2 years, the children returned to be studied. Allergy skin tests to common allergens appropriate to location and age were performed, and the parents completed the International Study of Allergy and Asthma in Childhood questionnaire. The PPD reaction size was compared with the presence of atopy and allergy questionnaire responses. RESULTS: A total of 1,704 infants were studied. Statistical significance was found between a negative PPD response vs any positive PPD response and the risk of having an allergic history at the age of 2 years in Turkey (relative risk, 2.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.25-3.55; P = .005) and Thailand (relative risk, 2.16; 95% confidence interval, 1.18-3.94; P = .02) but not Argentina (relative risk, 1.09; 95% confidence interval, 0.70-1.68; P = .70). CONCLUSIONS: This study further supports the role of infectious agents in modulating asthma and allergy development.     

The age at menarche and age at first birth in an undernourished population

A statistically significant relationship has been found between the age at menarche and the age at first birth among chronically-malnourished, lower-class Viennese women born in the late nineteenth century. Because the age at menarche depends on nutritional status, the above relationship is an indication that nutritional status must also have correlated positively with fertility rate, and therefore with population growth in societies with similar characteristics as this sample. Thus, the nutrition sensitivity of the age of first birth, and therefore of population growth are established in a chronically malnourished non-contraceptive historical population.     

Symptoms to pollen and fruits early in life and allergic disease at 4 years of age

Background: The predictive value of reported early symptoms to pollen or fruits on later allergic disease is unclear. Our aim is to evaluate if symptoms to pollen and/or to fruits early in life are associated with allergic disease and sensitization to pollen at 4 years. Methods: The study included 3619 children from the Barn (Children), Allergy, Milieu, Stockholm, Epidemiology project (BAMSE) birth cohort. Reported symptoms of wheeze, sneeze or rash to birch, grass or weed, symptoms (vomiting, diarrhea, rash, facial edema, sneeze, or wheeze) to fruits including tree‐nuts at 1 or 2 years of age, and definitions of asthma, rhinitis and eczema at 4 years were derived from questionnaire data. Sensitization to pollen allergens was defined as allergen‐specific IgE‐antibodies to any pollen (birch/timothy/mugwort) ≥0.35 kU_A/l. Results: At 1 or 2 years of age, 6% of the children were reported to have pollen‐related symptoms, 6% had symptoms to fruits, and 1.4% to both pollen and fruits. Children with symptoms to both pollen and fruits at 1 or 2 years of age had an increased risk for sensitization to any pollen allergen at age 4 (OR_adj = 4.4, 95% CI = 2.1–9.2). This group of children also had a substantially elevated risk for developing any allergic disease (asthma, rhinitis, or eczema) at 4 years irrespective of sensitization to pollen (OR_adj = 8.6, 95% CI = 4.5–16.4). Conclusions: The prevalence of reported symptoms to pollen and fruits is very low in early childhood. However, children with early symptoms to both pollen and fruits appear to have a markedly elevated risk for allergic disease.     

Thymus size and head circumference at birth and the development of allergic diseases

BACKGROUND: The positive association between a large head circumference at birth and total serum IgE levels has been suggested to be due to negative associations between head circumference at birth and thymus development and between thymus development and total serum IgE levels. OBJECTIVES: To examine the associations between head circumference and thymus size at birth and the development of allergic disease. METHODS: The size of the thymus was assessed by sonography during the first week of life in 149 healthy term infants. Information on birth characteristics and mode of delivery was collected at delivery. The presence of allergic disease was assessed 5 years later by mailed questionnaires, which were returned by 85% of the eligible families. RESULTS: At birth, head circumference was positively associated with thymus size (P < 0.001). In all, 27 (23%) of the children had developed at least one allergic disease. Multivariate analysis revealed that both parental allergy (Prevalence Ratio and 95% CI) = 3.18 (1.49-6.78)) and caesarean delivery (2.62 (1.48-4.64)) were independently correlated with allergic disease, whereas thymus size was not. CONCLUSIONS: Our study does not support that a large head circumference is associated with a small thymus size, nor that a small thymus size is associated with allergic disease. Whether thymus size at birth is related to total serum IgE levels still remains to be elucidated.     

Month of birth and childhood atopic diseases in the tropics

Relatiotiship between the month of hirth and prevalence of diagnosed asthma, asthma-like symptoms (wheezing, nocturnal cough, and exerctse wheezing), rhinitis, and eczema was investigated in four cohorts each ol primary schoolchildren and secondary school (high school) adolescents in Singapore by questionnaire survey. Significantly increased prevalence rates of diagnosed asthtna and asthma-like symptoms were observed in certain hirth months of the year for two adolescent cohorts, while significant association between birth month and presence of symptoms of rhinitis was found in a cohort of 6-7-year-olds. However, when demographic factors were taken into consideration by multivariate analysis, only the association between asthtna. asthma-like symptoms, and birth month remained significant in one of the adolescent cohorts. There was, therefore, only a weak association between the month of birth and atopic disease in our schoolchildren. The overall seasonal trends, however, did show two mam seasons (March-May and September-November) associated with higher prevalence of these diseases.     

The value of perinatal immune responses in predicting allergic disease at 6 years of age

BACKGROUND: Characterizing early abnormalities in immune development of allergic individuals provides an important basis for defining disease pathogenesis and future prevention strategies. This study compares patterns of early immune responses in an established cohort based on allergic outcomes and allergen skin prick test (SPT) reactions at 6 years of age. METHODS: Children from an original birth cohort (n = 60) consisting of 44 high risk (HR) (family history of allergy) and 16 low risk (LR) (no family history) were reassessed at 6 years of age. Detailed clinical information about allergic disease was obtained (n = 53) and a subgroup (n = 31) consented to have allergen SPT to common food and inhalant allergens. Data from previous immunological assessments performed at birth, 1 and 2 years of age, including lymphoproliferation and cytokine [interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-13 and interferon (IFN)-gamma] responses to ovalbumin (OVA), house dust mite (HDM), cat allergen (Fel d 1), phytohaemaglutinin (PHA) and tetanus toxoid, were re-analysed based on the 6-year clinical outcomes. RESULTS: Twenty-eight HR and three LR children had a clinical history of allergic disease at 6 years of age including doctor diagnosed asthma (n = 17) and/or eczema (n = 24). Most children (78%) with atopy at 6 years had positive SPT to the allergens tested, and 70% had symptoms within the last year. Children at genetic risk (family history) of allergy had weaker (P = 0.017) polyclonal T helper 1 (Th1) IFN-gamma responses in the neonatal period compared with LR children. Although children with allergic disease at 6 years also tended to have weaker neonatal IFN-gamma responses compared to those with no symptoms, but this was not quite significant (P = 0.05). A positive SPT to HDM at 6 years was associated with higher IL-13 responses to HDM at 1 year (P = 0.02), whereas allergic disease at 6 years was associated with higher IL-5 messenger RNA (mRNA) responses to HDM at 1 year (P = 0.01). Despite these associations, regression analysis demonstrated that the only significant early predictors of allergic sensitization at 6 years of age were a family history of allergic disease, and atopic symptoms at 2 years. Importantly, none of the early immunological parameters measured were significantly predictive of allergic disease or allergic sensitization in these 6-year-olds. CONCLUSIONS: Although our observations suggest that subtle differential alterations in cytokine responses during early immune development are associated with different aspects of subsequent atopy, there are still no early predictive biomarkers of disease. A positive family history of allergy remains the dominant predictive factor.     

Parental age and birth order in Chinese children with congenital heart disease.

Parental age and birth order were studied in 100 Chinese children with congenital heart disease (proven by cardiac catheterisation) and in 100 controls. A higher incidence of congenital heart disease was present in the children with higher birth orders. No relationship was found between the incidence and the paternal or maternal ages. Using the method of multiple regression analysis this birth order effect was significant (p less than 0.01) and independent of parental age. This finding provides indirect evidence of environmental influence in the causation of congenital heart disease, which is known to be inherited in a multifactorial manner. Family planning to limit the size of the family may possibly contribute to the reduction of the incidence of congenital heart disease.     

Median age at onset of asthma and allergic rhinitis in Tecumseh, Michigan.

The ages at which allergies are likely to first become manifest is a subject of epidemiologic interest. The distribution of the onset ages reported in a population survey provides a distorted picture because it is a function of the age distribution of the population at the time of survey, and hence does not represent generational experience. A lifetable method is presented which transforms the raw cross-sectional data to a longitudinal basis. The information on onset age of asthma and allergic rhinitis collected in the 1962-1965 cycle of the Tecumseh Community Health Study is used to illustrate the method. The resultant distributions have median onset ages for the respective allergies which are considerably higher than those based on the onset frequency distributions of enumerated data.     

An update on the age of subfertile couples in Walcheren: age at registration mirrors increasing age at first birth

Dear Sir, We refer to a report which describes the well-established trendin Western countries that the age of women at first birth isincreasing (ESHRE Capri Workshop Group, 2001). In the USA, themean age at first birth increased from 21.4 to 24.9 years from1970 to 2000 (Matthews and Hamilton, 2002). In Europe, in around2001, the mean age at first birth     

Month of birth and height of Spanish middle-aged men

We examined whether body height differs in Spain, a country having a high number of hours of sunlight, between middle-aged males and females born during the months with the longest and those born in the months with the shortest periods of daylight hours. We used data from a cross-sectional survey that documented standardized measurements of height and other variables for a 2021-person random multi-stage sample representative of the Spanish population aged 35-64 years. The relationship between height and month of birth was analysed by multiple linear regression, adjusting for age, occupation and type of residence. Male adults born in summer proved to be 1.7 cm taller than their counterparts born in winter (95% confidence interval 0.2-3.3 cm, p = 0.03). This relationship was most marked for those whose occupation was non-manual (2.1 cm, p = 0.04 vs 1.4cm, p = 0.2 in manual occupations). No significant (p = 0.8) or relevant (0.16 cm) summer- and winter-related differences in height were found in women. These results are compatible with the hypothesis that adult male height could be partially influenced by physical environmental factors such as the action of sunlight during the early stages of life.     

Month of birth and height of Spanish middle-aged men

Summary. We examined whether body height differs in Spain, a country having a high number of hours of sunlight, between middle-aged males and females born during the months with the longest and those born in the months with the shortest periods of daylight hours. We used data from a cross-sectional survey that documented standardized measurements of height and other variables for a 2021-person random multi-stage sample representative of the Spanish population aged 35-64 years. The relationship between height and month of birth was analysed by multiple linear regression, adjusting for age, occupation and type of residence. Male adults born in summer proved to be 1.7cm taller than their counterparts born in winter (95% confidence interval 0.2-3.3cm, p = 0.03). This relationship was most marked for those whose occupation was non-manual (2.1cm, p = 0.04 vs 1.4cm, p = 0.2 in manual occupations). No significant (p = 0.8) or relevant (0.16cm) summer- and winter-related differences in height were found in women. These results are compatible with the hypothesis that adult male height could be partially influenced by physical environmental factors such as the action of sunlight during the early stages of life.