Could birth season predict asthma risk?

This photo collage shows the four seasons.

Birth order is often discussed when dissecting a person’s personality. Now, birth season is the focus of a recent study to determine which people may be predisposed to an asthma diagnosis.

The study, “Being Born in Autumn or Winter is Associated with Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis in Finland,” was published in Clinical and Translational Allergy, and looked at the role birth season plays for the people of Finland. The study was conducted by the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio, the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital. 

“When using summer as a reference, we found that being born in any other time of the year was significantly associated with allergic rhinitis, and that being born in autumn or winter was associated with asthma,” the study's authors concluded. Researchers reported they did not find a statistically significant association of season of birth with chronic rhinosinusitis or NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease.

The study’s authors did note that the correlation between birth season and airway allergies/related diseases could be tied to other factors, such as seasonal variation in light levels, vitamin D metabolism, vegetation and air pollution (which affect allergenicity and immunological responses) and the risk of allergic rhinitis.

Researchers collected registry-based data from 74,868 patients between 2005 and 2019, based on a visit to a hospital in the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS) in Finland as well as visit date, birth date, gender and comorbidities.

Of the total population, those who had asthma accounted for 43.1% from the winter group, 42.1% from the spring group, 41.1% from the summer group and 42.7% from the autumn group. The allergic rhinitis breakdown accounted for 12.6% from the winter group, 12.0% from the spring group, 10.7% from the summer group and 12.1% from the autumn group. 

According to researchers, the study results may also suggest that the pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis and NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease is less dependent on early life events and that further research is needed in larger cohorts to confirm this. 

More in Asthma
Page 1 of 15
Next Page