title: Month of birth and childhood atopic diseases in the tropics.
abstract: The relationship between the month of birth and prevalence of diagnosed asthma, asthma-like symptoms (wheezing, nocturnal cough, and exercise wheezing), rhinitis, and eczema was investigated in four cohorts each of primary schoolchildren and secondary school (high school) adolescents in Singapore by questionnaire survey. Significantly increased prevalence rates of diagnosed asthma and asthma-like symptoms were observed in certain birth 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 asthma, 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 main seasons (March-May and September-November) associated with higher prevalence of these diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, National University of Singapore.
authors.forename: F T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Chew
authors.forename: D Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Goh
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Teo
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Quak
authors.forename: B W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004485:Eczema / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012220:Rhinitis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012621:Seasons; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology