the time of year in which a child is born may have something to do with his or her asthma risk, a new study suggests.
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute estimates that more than 22 million people in the United States have asthma. Of this figure, nearly 6 million are children.
Though an array of treatments are available to help people live with asthma, in many cases the precise reasons for the development of the condition remain unclear.
Hartert's team suggests that the development of asthma in children could be tied to whether they have suffered a respiratory infection during their first year of life -- particularly since the children in question are born at a time when cold and flu rates are on the rise.
However, the researchers caution that this study does not prove that preventing a respiratory tract infection early in life will also prevent the development of asthma later on.
The other side of the equation is genetics, and doctors say the interplay between a child's natural susceptibility to the condition and the infections they sustain while young could decide their asthma fate.
"It's pretty convincing that [asthma is] due to the [respiratory] virus," said Dr. Elliot Israel, director of clinical research in the Pulmonary Division at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass. "The virus may be responsible for some asthma. If you have a strong family history of asthma, [you] may want to time your birth."
Hartert estimates that your risk for developing asthma is about 40 percent if one parent has asthma, and about 80 percent if both parents have asthma. However, she estimates that contracting a serious viral respiratory infection in early life can increase your chances of developing asthma by about 30 to 40 percent.
Dr. Franklin Adkinson, professor of medicine and associate training program director of the Johns Hopkins University Asthma and Allergy Center, said at the very least, the research could give new parents another reason to keep their babies cold- and flu-free.
"The interaction between a particular developmental period and seasonal environmental factors substantially [increase] the genetic predisposition for persistent asthma in young children," Adkinson said. "If the authors' hypothesis is correct, an effort to reduce viral infections by environmental controls or use of a vaccine could have a major impact on reducing asthma in children."
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