ArticleAmerican journal of epidemiology2011
Antibiotic exposure by 6 months and asthma and allergy at 6 years: Findings in a cohort of 1,401 US children.
Article in American journal of epidemiology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 132 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
132 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 290 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of adjunctive prophylactic macrolides used at the caesarean section on endometritis and surgical site wound infection: A meta-analysis.International wound journal · 2023Pooled it
- Presepsin for the Diagnosis of Neonatal Early-Onset Sepsis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA pediatrics · 2022Pooled it
- The relationship of prenatal antibiotic exposure and infant antibiotic administration with childhood allergies: a systematic review.BMC pediatrics · 2020Pooled it
- Effects of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption on Risk of Asthma, Wheezing and Immune Responses: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2017Pooled it
- [Association between use of antibacterial agents in the first year of life and childhood asthma: a Meta analysis].Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2016Pooled it
- C-reactive protein- and clinical symptoms-guided strategy in term neonates with early-onset sepsis reduced antibiotic use and hospital stay: a quality improvement initiative.BMC pediatrics · 2020Trial
- Early antibiotic exposure and vaccine immune responses in preterm infants: potential sex-specific differences.Gut microbes · 2026Observational
- Antimicrobial-associated adverse events in neonates: an integrated literature review and FAERS pharmacovigilance analysis.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Review
- Antibiotics in the first week of life and the association with atopic diseases at ages 9-12: a prospective cohort study.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Antibiotics deliver a gut punch to infant immunity.Cell research · 2025Article
- Microbiome in heritage: how maternal microbiome transmission impacts next generation health.Microbiome · 2025Review
- Early Origins of Asthma and Allergies: Clues From Studies in China.Clinical and experimental allergy : journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology · 2025Review
- The effectiveness of a cesarean delivery bundle with vaginal preparation, cefazolin, and azithromycin in reducing postoperative infections: A before-and-after study.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2025Article
- IgA Dysfunction Induced by Early-Lifetime Low-Dose Antibiotics Exposure Aggravates Diet-Induced Metabolic Syndrome.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Leukotrienes: Bridging the Inflammatory Gap in Asthma and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD).Comprehensive Physiology · 2025Review
- Can Vaginal Seeding at Birth Improve Health Outcomes of Cesarean Section-Delivered Infants? A Scoping Review.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- The impact of neonatal antibiotic exposure on the development of childhood food allergies.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
- Use of antibiotics in early life and development of diseases in childhood: nationwide registry study.BMJ medicine · 2025Article
- The relationship between gut microbiome and human diseases: mechanisms, predisposing factors and potential intervention.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Review
- The potential immunomodulatory role of human milk oligosaccharides in prevention of viral infections and development of asthma in early life.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
72 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Many studies have reported that antibiotic use may be associated with increased risk of childhood asthma. Respiratory tract infections in small children may be difficult to distinguish from early symptoms of asthma, and studies may have been confounded by "protopathic" bias, where antibiotics are used to treat early symptoms of asthma. These analyses of a cohort including 1,401 US children assess the association between antibiotic use within the first 6 months of life and asthma and allergy at 6 years of age between 2003 and 2007. Antibiotic exposure was associated with increased risk of asthma (adjusted odds ratio = 1.52, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07, 2.16). The odds ratio if asthma was first diagnosed after 3 years of age was 1.66 (95% CI: 0.99, 2.79) and, in children with no history of lower respiratory infection in the first year of life, the odds ratio was 1.66 (95% CI: 1.12, 3.46). The adverse effect of antibiotics was particularly strong in children with no family history of asthma (odds ratio = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.00, 3.58) (P(interaction) = 0.03). The odds ratio for a positive allergy blood or skin test was 1.59 (95% CI: 1.10, 2.28). The results show that early antibiotic use was associated with asthma and allergy at 6 years of age, and that protopathic bias was unlikely to account for the main findings.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.