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The association of pet keeping at home with symptoms in airways,nose and skin among Bulgarian children |
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| Authors: | Kiril Naydenov Todor Popov Tihomir Mustakov Arsen Melikov Carl-Gustaf Bornehag Jan Sundell |
| Institution: | 1. ALECTIA A/S, Teknikerbyen 34, Virum, DK-2830, Denmark;2. Association Asthma, Clinical Centre of Allergology, Alexander's University Hospital, 1, Sv. Georgi Sofiyski St., BG-1431 Sofia, Bulgaria;3. International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Technical University of Denmark, Building 402, Lyngby, DK-2800, Denmark;4. International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Technical University of Denmark, Building 402, Lyngby, DK-2800, Denmark
Public Health Sciences, Karlstad University, Universitygatan 2, S-651 88, Karlstad, Sweden SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Box 857, S-501 15, Boras, Sweden;5. The University of Texas at Tyler, College of Engineering and Computer Science, 3900 University Blvd., Tyler, TX 75799, USA |
| Abstract: | The role of pet exposure in early childhood for allergy/ asthma later in life is still controversial. Recently it was shown that ‘avoidance behaviour’ is an important factor for the pet distribution in the population. The aim of the present work is to study the association between self-reported pet keeping at home and symptoms in airways, nose and skin among children 2–7 years of age, in a country where primary prevention strategies regarding allergies are not common. A cross-sectional survey on the association between allergy and asthma symptoms and home enviromental factors was conducted in two towns in Bulgaria in spring 2004 (the ALLHOME-1 study). Data for 4479 out of 12982 children was obtained. 21.3% of the parents reported having pets at the time of the questionnaire, and 23.3% for pet keeping at index child's birth. Parents of 3.3% of the children got rid of some of the pets and 10.6% refrained from having pets, due in both cases to allergic illness in the family. Keeping dogs or cats at the time of the survey or during the child's first years was associated with most of the symptoms (aOR 1.1–2.2). |
| Keywords: | pet keeping allergy asthma children Bulgaria |