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European Journal of Pediatrics
Published in: European Journal of Pediatrics 7/2021

01-07-2021 | Childhood Asthma | Review

Association between childhood asthma and history of assisted reproduction techniques: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Authors: Sofia Tsabouri, Georgios Lavasidis, Anthoula Efstathiadou, Margarita Papasavva, Vanessa Bellou, Helio Bergantini, Konstantinos Priftis, Evangelia E. Ntzani

Published in: European Journal of Pediatrics | Issue 7/2021

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Abstract

Genetic and environmental factors during early development may influence lung growth and impact lung function. We performed a meta-analysis of epidemiological studies examining the association between conception history of assisted reproduction techniques (ART) and childhood asthma. We searched PubMed and Embase up to November 2020 for relevant observational studies and synthesized data data under a fixed or random effects model as appropriate. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 metric. We identified 13 individual studies including 3,226,386 participants. We did not observe a statistically significant association between ART and physician-diagnosed asthma (n = 9, random OR 1.16; 95% CI 0.94–1.43; I2 61%). We observed a statistically significant association between ART and prescription of asthma medications (n = 6, fixed OR 1.27; 95% CI 1.23–1.32; I2 0%). Wheezing was also associated with ART (n = 4, fixed OR 1.71; 95% CI 1.08–2.72; I2 0%). When we combined studies using any asthma definition, a statistically significant association was observed (random OR 1.19; 95% CI 1.05–1.34; I2 80%).
Conclusion: The available observational evidence suggests that the risk of asthma is higher among children born after ART. The mechanism and potential sources of bias behind this association are under scrutiny, and further work is needed to establish causality.
What is Known:
• “Positive” epidemiological signals for the association between assisted reproduction techniques and asthma stemming from large studies were not replicated by subsequent research.
• Any available research synthesis effort so far bears no quantitative aspect.
What is New:
• The available observational evidence suggests that the risk of asthma is higher among children born after ART.
• The mechanism and potential sources of bias behind this association are under scrutiny.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Association between childhood asthma and history of assisted reproduction techniques: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors
Sofia Tsabouri
Georgios Lavasidis
Anthoula Efstathiadou
Margarita Papasavva
Vanessa Bellou
Helio Bergantini
Konstantinos Priftis
Evangelia E. Ntzani
Publication date
01-07-2021
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
European Journal of Pediatrics / Issue 7/2021
Print ISSN: 0340-6199
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1076
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-021-03975-7

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