title: Associations of postnatal growth with asthma and atopy: the PROBIT Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has been hypothesised that postnatal weight and length/height gain are variously related to wheeze, asthma and atopy; however, supporting evidence is limited and inconsistent.
  
  
  METHODS
  Weights and lengths/heights of 12,171 term infants were measured from birth to 12 months and at 6.5 yr and extracted from polyclinic records prospectively obtained between 12 and 60 months. Atopic phenotypes were ascertained at 6.5 yr with the International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood questionnaire and skin prick tests. Logistic regression models investigated whether rates of weight and length/height gain from infancy to mid-childhood were associated with atopy phenotypes that have occurred ever or in the last 12 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After controlling for confounders and prior weight and length/height gain, all weight gain variables except birth weight were positively associated with ever having wheezed (p < 0.1). A one s.d. increase in weight gain rate between 0 and 3 months was associated with a 12% increase (2-23%) in allergic rhinitis ever. No other consistent patterns of association were found for weight gain or length/height gain rate between 0 and 60 months with atopic outcomes at 6.5 yr. In contrast, all atopy outcomes except for ever having asthma were associated with current weight and height, even after controlling for prior growth.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Current height and weight are more strongly associated with the development of atopic phenotypes in childhood than patterns of infant and early childhood growth, which may well reflect reverse causality (atopy effects on growth) or residual confounding by an unknown common cause of growth and atopy.
authors: MRC Centre for Causal Analyses in Translational Epidemiology, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. emma.louise.anderson@bristol.ac.uk
authors: Emma L
authors: EL
authors: Anderson
authors: Abigail
authors: A
authors: Fraser
authors: Richard M
authors: RM
authors: Martin
authors: Michael S
authors: MS
authors: Kramer
authors: Emily
authors: E
authors: Oken
authors: Rita
authors: R
authors: Patel
authors: Kate
authors: K
authors: Tilling
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001724:Birth Weight; D001827:Body Height; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006969:Hypersensitivity, Immediate / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007428:Intradermal Tests; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010641:Phenotype; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D002094:Republic of Belarus; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015430:Weight Gain
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