Children on farms have less asthma

Edmonton, Alberta -- A University of Alberta study found farm children have a lower risk of asthma than their urban counterparts.

Lead author William Midodzi, a doctoral candidate at the University of Alberta School of Public Health, in Edmonton, analyzed of two surveys involving 13,524 asthma-free children under the age of 12 in the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth.

The study, published in the journal Respirology, found a two-year cumulative incidence of asthma was 2.3 percent in farm children, compared to 5.3 percent for children living in a rural area and 5.7 percent for urban children.

"Farm children ages 1 to 5 also showed a stronger protective effect against asthma than those aged 6 to 11 years, possibly due to earlier exposure to the farm environment," Midodzi said in a statement.

Midodzi speculates that exposure to "endotoxins" from animal viruses and manure and avoidance of urban environment early in life might have reduced the risk for development of asthma.

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