Influence of Farm Environment on Asthma during the Life Course: A Population-Based Birth Cohort Study in Northern Finland

Marko T. Kantomaa (), Mimmi Tolvanen, Miia Halonen, Cecilie Svanes, Marjo-Riitta Järvelin and Sylvain Sebert
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Marko T. Kantomaa: Research Unit of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, 90220 Oulu, Finland
Mimmi Tolvanen: Research Unit of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, 90220 Oulu, Finland
Miia Halonen: Research Unit of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, 90220 Oulu, Finland
Cecilie Svanes: Department of Occupational Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, N-5021 Bergen, Norway
Marjo-Riitta Järvelin: Research Unit of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, 90220 Oulu, Finland
Sylvain Sebert: Research Unit of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, 90220 Oulu, Finland

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: We investigated the influence of a farming environment on asthma at three time points from birth to 46 years using the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (n = 10,926). The prevalence of asthma was investigated by postal questionnaires at 14, 31 and 46 years of age. Exposure to a farming environment was assessed by a postal questionnaire at birth and at 31 and 46 years of age. Odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for the prevalence of asthma were obtained from multinomial logistic regression, stratified by sex. Being born in a farmer family was potentially causally associated with lower risk of asthma in males at 31 years of age (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.37, 0.85) and in females at 46 years of age (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.44, 0.95). Working as a farmer was not associated with asthma. Exposure to a farming environment in childhood may have a lifelong impact on developing asthma from birth through young adulthood and until middle age, indicating that ‘immune deviation’ may persist throughout life.

Keywords: asthma; asthma epidemiology; environmental exposures; farming; life course; early life origins (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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