
A new study may offer good news for families who love cats. In the study, “Persistent Cat Ownership and Asthma in a Longitudinal Study of Puerto Rican Youth,” children in Puerto Rico who grew up with a cat in the house were 68% less likely to develop asthma. The study was published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
Specifically, the risk declined when having a household cat both in early life and during school age. There were no associations when children had cats only in early life or at school age. There were also no associations between asthma and dog ownership, according to Yueh-Ying Han, PhD, MS, associate professor of pediatric research in the division of pulmonary medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and a pulmonary medicine researcher at Children’s Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Yueh-Ying Han, PhD, MS
This study represents the first known prospective analysis of cat exposure and asthma or allergic sensitization in Puerto Ricans. Researchers pulled data from the PROspective study of Puerto Rican Youth and Asthma (PROPRA), including 173 children who did not have asthma (mean age, 9.9 years) and 211 with asthma (mean age, 10 years).
Researchers did note that the group with asthma versus the group without the condition was significantly more likely to have mold or mildew in their house in the previous year, a family history of atopy, one or more positive allergen-specific IgE tests, an unhealthy diet and a higher BMI Z-score.
In addition to caregiver questionnaires, researchers conducted a baseline visit with each child between the ages of six and 14 years and then a follow-up visit between the ages of nine and 20 years. Children were stratified into four groups.
“Persistent exposure to a cat was not associated with sensitization to any of five common allergens (house dust mite, cockroach, cat dander, dog dander and mouse urinary protein) or sensitization to cat allergen specifically,” Dr. Han said.
Researchers noted a significant association between dog ownership at school age only and a positive IgE result for a dog allergen, but no significant associations between other categories of dog ownership and positive IgE results to one or more allergens.
Compared with the full cohort, associations between cat ownership and asthma were similar among the 294 children whose families never gave away any animals.
“Despite some study limitations, our results suggest that cat ownership during childhood is not detrimental and may be beneficial in Puerto Rican households without members who are already allergic to a cat,” Dr. Han said.
However, researchers called for additional studies with larger sample sizes to evaluate if and how risks for asthma among this and other marginalized populations may be mitigated by long-term exposure to high levels of cat allergen.