New research into pet allergy has looked at the effects of having a pet on children beyond early childhood to the age of eighteen years. The study, published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy, led by Dr Ganesa Wegienka of the Department of Public Health Sciences, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, US, aimed to evaluate the association between lifetime dog and cat exposure and allergic sensitisation to the specific animal at 18 years of age. Past studies have only looked at outcomes as far as early childhood.
The participants had been enrolled in the Detroit Childhood Allergy Study birth cohort during 1987-1989, and were then contacted when they reached 18 years old. Those participants who had animal-specific IgE were taken as having a sensitivity to dog or cat. The researchers took data taken over their lifetimes to determine the individuals’ indoor exposure to dog or cat – indoor exposure was defined when an animal spent more than 50% of their time indoors. First year exposure, age group exposure and cumulative exposure over their lifetime was also taken into account.
The results showed that males who had had exposure to an indoor dog for the first year of their life had half the risk of being sensitised to dogs at age 18 compared with those without a dog. Overall, teens with indoor exposure to cats in the first year of life had a decreased risk of being sensitised to cats. Exposure at any other age or cumulative exposure was not associated with either outcome. The researchers concluded that the first year of life is the critical period when indoor exposure to cats and dogs influences sensitisation to these animals.
Source: Clinical and Experimental Allergy
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