Associations of place of birth with asthma and wheezing in Mexican American children

Background

There are wide global variations in the prevalence of asthma and wheezing.

Objectives

We examined the associations of place of birth with doctor-diagnosed asthma, wheezing in the past 12 months, and other allergic conditions in Mexican American children.

Methods

The study used data on 4121 Mexican American children age 2 months to 16 years who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Results

The risk of asthma was associated with being born in the United States after adjusting for sex, age, history of ear infection, and having a regular place for health care (odds ratio, 2.19; 95% CI, 1.09-4.40). Among children with no previous history of ear infection, US-born children were more likely to report wheezing in the past 12 months than their peers born in Mexico after controlling for confounding variables (odds ratio, 2.05; 95% CI, 1.09-3.87). Mexican American children born in the United States were more likely to have positive skin reaction to cat, house mite, Alternaria alternata, peanut, Bermuda grass, and short ragweed but were less likely to have a positive skin test to German cockroaches after adjusting for sex, age, ear infection, having a regular place for health care, and area of residence.

Conclusion

Our study indicated significant associations of place of birth with respiratory symptoms and allergic conditions in Mexican American children. These findings highlight the need for further studies to examine environmental factors that change by migration and explain the observed differential in the risk of asthma or wheezing.

Key words: Asthma, children and adolescents, immigrants, Mexican American, Mexico, place of birth, prevalence, respiratory symptoms, skin test reactivity, wheezing

Abbreviations used: NHANES III, Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, OR, Odds ratio