title: Birth weight, gestational age, fetal growth and childhood asthma hospitalization.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Childhood asthma may have a fetal origin through fetal growth and development of the immunocompetence or respiratory organs.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We examined to which extent short gestational age, low birth weight and fetal growth restriction were associated with an increased risk of asthma hospitalization in childhood.
  
  
  METHODS
  We undertook a cohort study based on several national registers in Denmark, Sweden and Finland. We included all live singleton born children in Denmark during 1979-2005 (N = 1,538,093), in Sweden during 1973-2004 (N = 3,067,670), and a 90% random sample of singleton children born in Finland during 1987-2004 (N = 1,050,744). The children were followed from three years of age to first hospitalization for asthma, emigration, death, their 18th birthday, or the end of study (the end of 2008 in Denmark, and the end of 2007 in Sweden or Finland), whichever came first. We computed the pseudo-values for each observation and used them in a generalized estimating equation to estimate relative risks (RR) for asthma hospitalization.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 131,783 children were hospitalized for asthma during follow-up. The risk for asthma hospitalization consistently increased with lower birth weight and shorter gestational age. A 1000-g decrease in birth weight corresponded to a RR of 1.17 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15-1.18). A one-week decrease in gestational age corresponded to a RR of 1.05 (95% CI 1.04-1.06). Small for gestational age was associated with an increased risk of asthma hospitalization in term but not in preterm born children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fetal growth and gestational age may play a direct or indirect causal role in the development of childhood asthma.
authors.affiliation: Section for Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. lxq@soci.au.dk.
authors.forename: Xiaoqin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jørn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: Esben
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Agerbo
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cnattingius
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gissler
authors.forename: Jiong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li