title: The relationship of season of birth to asthma and allergy in urban African American children from 10 to 13 years of age.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the relationship between season of birth and presence of asthma and allergy in preteen, low-income, African American children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study consisted of a self-administered survey followed by telephone interviews of parents of children attending 19 middle schools in Detroit, Michigan. Out of 4194 children, 1292 were identified with asthma and 962 parents of these children provided informed consent and took part in telephone interviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No statistically significant relationships were observed between season of birth and diagnosis of asthma (p > .05) or with diagnosis adjusting for income, age, gender, parent's education, or parent being a smoker (p > .05). No statistically significant association was evident between season of birth and presence of allergy (p > .05) or with allergy adjusting for the above variables (p > .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Identifying children vulnerable to problems with asthma and allergy, especially in populations exhibiting high prevalence of the conditions and significant disparities in outcomes, requires use of all possible means. Season of birth does not appear to be a useful indicator in identification of such children. The findings from this study do not support the proposition that season of birth, associated with early exposure to viruses as evident in the winter and to seasonal allergens, contributes to more asthma and/or allergy.
authors.affiliation: Center for Managing Chronic Disease, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA. nmclark@umich.edu
authors.forename: Noreen M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Alan P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Baptist
authors.forename: Yi-An
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Harvey L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Leo
authors.forename: Peter X K
authors.initials: PX
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001249:Asthma / Q000208:ethnology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011204:Poverty Areas; D065631:Rhinitis, Allergic; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000208:ethnology*; D012621:Seasons; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*