SHORT REPORT
Living at high altitude and risk of hospitalisation for atopic asthma in children: results from a large prospective birth-cohort study
1 Department of Paediatrics, Division of Neonatology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria
2 Department of Paediatrics, Division of Paediatric Cardiology and Pulmonology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria
3 Department of Paediatrics, Reutte County Hospital, Reutte, Austria
4 Department of Paediatrics, Lienz County Hospital, Lienz, Austria
5 Department of Paediatrics, Kufstein County Hospital, Kufstein, Austria
6 Department of Paediatrics, St Johann County Hospital, St Johann, Austria
7 Department of Paediatrics, St Vincent’s Hospital Zams, Zams, Austria
8 Department of Neurology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Prof U Kiechl-Kohlendorfer
Department of Paediatrics, Division of Neonatology, Innsbruck Medical University, Anichstrasse 35 6020 Innsbruck, Austria; ursula.kohlendorfer{at}i-med.ac.at
Background: Asthma is among the most common chronic diseases in childhood and is steadily increasing in prevalence. Better characterisation of factors that determine the risk of hospitalisation for atopic asthma in childhood may help design prevention programmes and improve our understanding of disease pathobiology. This study will focus on the altitude of residence.
Methods: This is an ongoing prospective birth-cohort study that enrolled all live-born infants in the Tyrol. Between 1994 and 1999, baseline data were collected for 33 808 infants. From 2000 to 2005, all children hospitalised for atopic asthma at the age of 
6 years (n = 305) were identified by a careful search of hospital databases. Disease status was ascertained from the typical medical history, a thorough examination and proof of atopy.
Results: Living at higher altitude was associated with an enhanced risk of hospitalisation for atopic asthma (multivariate RRs (95% confidence interval 2.08 (1.45 to 2.98) and 1.49 (1.05 to 2.11) for a comparison between altitude categories 1200 m and 900–1199 m versus <900 m; p<0.001). This finding applied equally to hospital admissions in spring, summer, autumn and winter. When altitude of residence was analysed as a continuous variable, the risk for asthma hospitalisation increased by 7% for each 100-m increase in altitude (p = 0.013).
Conclusions: This large prospective study shows a significant association between the risk of hospitalisation for atopic asthma and altitude of residence between 450 and 1800 m. The underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated, but it is tempting to speculate about a role for altitude characteristics such as the decline in outdoor temperature and air humidity and increase in ozone levels, which may trigger airway hyper-responsiveness and attenuate lung function.
Abbreviations: ICD-9, International Classification of Disease-Ninth Revision; ICD-10, International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision
Relevant Article
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Arch. Dis. Child. 2007 92: e4.
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in ADC Online
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
