Child's Allergy Risk Higher If Same Sex Parent Has It

British researchers reported this month their findings that a child is at higher risk of allergies if the same sex parent has allergies. In other words, if a father has bad allergies, his sons are at higher risk for them and if a mother has bad allergies, than her daughters are at higher risk for allergy problems.

They based their findings following 1456 children examined at 1, 2, 4, 10, and 18 years of age. History of asthma, eczema, rhinitis, and environmental factors was obtained and skin prick tests were carried out at ages 4, 10, and 18 years, and total IgE measurement was carried out at 10 and 18 years. Parental history of allergic disease was assessed soon after the birth of the child, when maternal IgE levels were also measured.

Keep in mind that the appearance of allergy in a child is not wholly based on genetics but does have some environmental basis as well.

However, the association of gender is a new twist on whether a child will develop allergies or not.

Reference:
The effect of parental allergy on childhood allergic diseases depends on the sex of the child. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Volume 130, Issue 2 , Pages 427-434.e6, August 2012

Smoker's Kids Have More Ear Infections

Although not entirely new news... a new review paper which collated the results of 61 past studies has reaffirmed that smoking around kids increases their risk of ear infections dramatically.

Just how much?

Kids living with a smoker had a:

• 37 percent higher risk of ear infections and hearing problems
• 62 percent higher risk of ear problems if the household smoker was their mom
• 86 percent more likely to undergo ear surgery than kids without secondhand smoke exposure

Read a MSNBC story on this here.

So don't smoke for your own health as well as your kids' health!!!

Reference:
Parental Smoking and the Risk of Middle Ear Disease in Children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. Published online September 5, 2011. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2011.158