Childhood asthma and cognitive function

This is a photo of an elementary-aged Asian boy having trouble focusing in school.

Childhood asthma may be an underlying cause of early cognitive difficulties, particularly in memory and executive function. New research, conducted as part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, followed a co-hort of children aged nine to 10 to gather the data.

The study, “Asthma and Memory Function in Children,” was published in JAMA Network Open and was designed to determine if asthma affects memory and cognitive abilities in school-aged children. Data was collected over multiple years, with follow-ups at one and two years.

Results indicated that children with early-onset asthma showed slower development of episodic memory compared to their peers. Additionally, children with asthma scored lower on tests measuring episodic memory, processing speed and executive function.

The study included 474 children for longitudinal analysis and 2,062 for cross-sectional analysis. Asthma was identified through parent reports, and children were categorized based on the onset and history of asthma.

The longitudinal analysis indicated children with earlier asthma onset had slower improvements in episodic memory over time. In the cross-sectional analysis, researchers found that children with any history of asthma performed worse on cognitive tests compared to those without asthma.

Researchers said they believe the study’s findings provide crucial insights into how a common chronic condition like asthma can impact children’s cognitive abilities, emphasizing the importance of addressing and managing asthma effectively to support children’s overall development. As such, researchers said there is a need for further research and potential interventions to support children with asthma in their cognitive development

The ABCD study is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is the largest, long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States. 

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