Link Between Family History of Cancer and Asthma Diagnosis

In children, family history of cancer was found to be linked to asthma diagnosis, said new study being presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting in Houston. "We used data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) from 2012-2016 to track information on children who have been diagnosed with asthma," says allergy and immunology fellow Sairaman Nagarajan, MD, lead author of the study. "Of the more than 57,000 children whose information we examined, more than 20 percent of those who had a family history of cancer had an asthma diagnosis."

The children represented in the survey were 51 percent male and 49 percent female. The children with asthma were older (10 years vs 8 years) than the children without asthma.

"The NHIS survey reflects the US population, and because of the large number of those surveyed, the findings are significant for people across the country," says allergist Rauno Joks, MD, ACAAI member and co-author of the study.

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Presentation Title: The Effect of Family Histories of Cancer on Childhood Asthma Diagnoses Presenter: Sairaman Nagarajan, MD

Source-Eurekalert