Current asthma at age 7 linked to chronic rhinosinusitis in middle age

Current asthma, head colds, and tonsillitis at age 7 years are associated with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) at midlife, according to a study published online July 10 in Allergy.

Jennifer L. Perret, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and colleagues examined relationships of respiratory infective/allergic conditions in childhood with asthma and allergies across the life course and CRS in middle age. Data were included from the population-based Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study cohort, first studied at ages 6 to 7 years in 1968 (8,583 participants) and serially followed into middle age (3,609 participants). At age 53 years, participants were assigned to a CRS-severity subtype.

The researchers found that 5.8% of the participants reported current CRS symptoms in middle age, with 2.5% doctor-diagnosed. Frequent head colds, frequent tonsillitis, and current childhood asthma were childhood conditions associated with symptomatic doctor-diagnosed CRS (multinomial odds ratios, 2.04, 1.61, and 2.23, respectively).

There were associations for life course trajectories featuring late-onset or persistent asthma and allergies with all CRS subtypes in middle age; associations were seen for early-onset persistent asthma and allergies, late-onset asthma allergies, and late-onset hay fever with symptomatic doctor-diagnosed CRS (multinomial odds ratios, 6.74, 15.9, and 3.02, respectively).

"Such conditions could be a sign of a susceptible child who is at higher risk for CRS in mid-adult life and who might benefit from closer monitoring and/or proactive management," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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