Abstract
Purpose
Pet exposure has always been controversial with childhood asthma and allergic rhinitis. We aimed to understand the prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis in children exposed to pets by meta-analysis.
Methods
We searched articles published from Jan 1, 2012 to Dec 31, 2022 in the Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases. We included a cross-sectional study that reported the prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis in children exposed to pets. Furthermore, we performed subgroup analyses according to pet type and age.
Results
In 14 selected studies, the meta-analysis results showed that the pooled prevalence of asthma in children exposed to pets was 19.0% (95% CI 13.3–24.7%), and the pooled prevalence of allergic rhinitis in children exposed to pets was 25.5% (95% CI 12.4–38.5%). The prevalence of asthma in children exposed to cats and dogs was 16.4% (95% CI 9.9–22.8%) and 12.5% (95% CI 8.7–16.2%), respectively. The prevalence of allergic rhinitis was 24.9% (95% CI 2.9–47.0%) and 24.1% (95% CI 2.6–45.6%), respectively. The prevalence of asthma in pet-exposed children was 17.1% (95% CI 12.3–22.0%) in the adolescence group (> 10 years) and 26.3% (95% CI 12.2–40.3%) in the childhood group (0–10 years). The prevalence of allergic rhinitis was 8.6% (95% CI 7.2–10.0%) in the adolescence group and 46.3% (95% CI 44.0–48.6%) in the childhood age group.
Conclusions
The prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis in children exposed to pets is different. Exposure to pet cats is more prone to illness, and younger children are more susceptible to disease than older children.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are in this published article.
References
Papi A, Brightling C, Pedersen SE, Reddel HK (2018) Asthma Lancet 391(10122):783–800
Zeng XW, Lodge CJ, Lowe AJ, Guo Y, Abramson MJ, Bowatte G, Hu LW, Yang BY, Chen ZX, Dharmage SC, Dong GH (2021) Current pet ownership modifies the adverse association between long-term ambient air pollution exposure and childhood asthma. Clin Transl Allergy 11(1):e12005
Martinez FD, Vercelli D (2013) Asthma. Lancet 382(9901):1360–1372
Bousquet J, Anto JM, Bachert C, Baiardini I, Bosnic-Anticevich S, Walter Canonica G, Melén E, Palomares O, Scadding GK, Togias A, Toppila-Salmi S (2020) Allergic rhinitis. Nat rev Dis Primers 6(1):95
Kakli HA, Riley TD (2016) Allergic rhinitis. Prim Care 43(3):465–475
Khan DA (2014) Allergic rhinitis and asthma: epidemiology and common pathophysiology. Allergy Asthma Proc 35(5):357–361
Portnoy J, Kennedy K, Sublett J, Phipatanakul W, Matsui E, Barnes C, Grimes C, Miller JD, Seltzer JM, Williams PB, Bernstein JA, Bernstein DI, Blessing-Moore J, Cox L, Khan DA, Lang DM, Nicklas RA, Oppenheimer J (2012) Environmental assessment and exposure control: a practice parameter–furry animals. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 108(4):223.e221–215
Chan SK, Leung DYM (2018) Dog and cat allergies: current state of diagnostic approaches and challenges. Allergy Asthma Immunol Res 10(2):97–105
Reynolds LA, Finlay BB (2017) Early life factors that affect allergy development. Nat Rev Immunol 17(8):518–528
Chen CM, Tischer C, Schnappinger M, Heinrich J (2010) The role of cats and dogs in asthma and allergy—a systematic review. Int J Hyg Environ Health 213(1):1–31
Fedortsiv O, Brozek GM, Luchyshyn N, Kubey I, Lawson JA, Rennie DC, Zejda JE (2012) Prevalence of childhood asthma, rhinitis, and eczema in the Ternopil region of Ukraine–results of BUPAS study. Adv Med Sci 57(2):282–289
Ahmadiafshar A, Nourollahi S, Arminpour A, Faghihzadeh S (2020) The prevalence and risk factors of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and eczema in primary school children, Zanjan, Iran. J Adv Med Biomed Res 28(130):230–236
Easterbrook PJ, Berlin JA, Gopalan R, Matthews DR (1991) Publication bias in clinical research. Lancet 337(8746):867–872
Morales-Romero J, Bedolla-Pulido TI, Bedolla-Pulido TR, Pulido-Guillén NA, Bedolla-Barajas M, Padilla-Padilla R, Pérez-Molina JJ, Orozco-Alatorre LG (2020) Asthma prevalence, but not allergic rhinitis nor atopic dermatitis, is associated to exposure to dogs in adolescents. Allergol Immunopathol 48(1):34–41
Kahwa EK, Waldron NK, Younger NO, Edwards NC, Knight-Madden JM, Bailey KA, Wint YB, Lewis-Bell KN (2012) Asthma and allergies in Jamaican children aged 2–17 years: a cross-sectional prevalence survey. BMJ Open. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001132
Song N, Shamssain M, Zhang J, Wu J, Fu C, Hao S, Guan J, Yan X (2014) Prevalence, severity and risk factors of asthma, rhinitis and eczema in a large group of Chinese schoolchildren. J Asthma 51(3):232–242
Mallol J, Crane J, von Mutius E, Odhiambo J, Keil U, Stewart A (2013) The international study of asthma and allergies in childhood (ISAAC) phase three: a global synthesis. Allergol Immunopathol 41(2):73–85
Alm B, Goksör E, Pettersson R, Möllborg P, Erdes L, Loid P, Aberg N, Wennergren G (2014) Antibiotics in the first week of life is a risk factor for allergic rhinitis at school age. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 25(5):468–472
Akcay A, Tamay Z, Hocaoglu AB, Ergin A, Guler N (2014) Risk factors affecting asthma prevalence in adolescents living in Istanbul, Turkey. Allergol Immunopathol 42(5):449–458
Baard CB, Franckling-Smith Z, Munro J, Workman L, Zar HJ (2021) Asthma in South African adolescents: a time trend and risk factor analysis over two decades. ERJ Open Res. https://doi.org/10.1183/23120541.00576-2020
Becerir T, Akcay A, Duksal F, Ergin A, Becerir C, Guler N (2014) Prevalence of asthma, local risk factors and agreement between written and video questionnaires among Turkish adolescents. Allergol Immunopathol 42(6):594–602
Bhalla K, Nehra D, Nanda S, Verma R, Gupta A, Mehra S (2018) Prevalence of bronchial asthma and its associated risk factors in school-going adolescents in Tier-III North Indian City. J Family Med Prim care 7(6):1452–1457
Freitas MS, Monteiro JC, Camelo-Nunes IC, Solé D (2012) Prevalence of asthma symptoms and associated factors in schoolchildren from Brazilian Amazon islands. J Asthma 49(6):600–605
Kumar GS, Roy G, Subitha L, Sahu SK (2014) Prevalence of bronchial asthma and its associated factors among school children in urban Puducherry, India. J Nat Sci Boil Med 5(1):59–62
Mejias SG, Ramphul K (2018) Prevalence and associated risk factors of bronchial asthma in children in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Cureus 10(2):e2211
Rajapakse Mudiyanselage SIR, Amarasiri W, Yasaratne B, Warnasekara J, Agampodi S (2021) Epidemiology of wheeze among preschool children: a population-based cross-sectional study from rural Sri Lanka. BMJ Open 11(7):e046688
Xu D, Wang YS, Chen ZM, Li SX, Cheng YG, Zhang L, Zhao LZ (2016) Prevalence and risk factors for asthma among children aged 0–14 years in Hangzhou: a cross-sectional survey. Respir Res. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12931-016-0439-z
Chinratanapisit S, Suratannon N, Pacharn P, Sritipsukho P, Vichyanond P (2019) Prevalence and risk factors of allergic rhinitis in children in Bangkok area. Asian Pac J Allergy Immunol 37(4):232–239
Ho CL, Wu WF (2021) Risk factor analysis of allergic rhinitis in 6–8 year-old children in Taipei. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249572
Acknowledgements
None.
Funding
This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Grant No. LY23H130002).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
There is no conflict of interest in this study.
Ethical approval
This study does not involve human participants and/or animals.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Qiu, Yy., Tu, LQ. & Chen, M. Prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis in children exposed to pets: a meta-analysis. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 281, 1651–1657 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-023-08351-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-023-08351-9