Study Upholds Links Between
House Cats and Kids' Asthma

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Being around a pet cat can make babies vulnerable to kitty-induced allergies and asthma later on, researchers in Sweden report. Their findings add to a body of conflicting evidence on whether being raised with a cat sensitizes young children to the animals.

While the majority of research in this area has found early exposure to cats to be an allergy risk, some recent studies have suggested the opposite--namely, that exposure helps infants develop a tolerance to cat allergens, thereby protecting them from allergies and asthma.

Now a report in the July issue of the journal Allergy bolsters the majority opinion. In a study of 181 asthmatic children aged 1 to 4, investigators found that those who lived with a cat during their first 2 years of life were more likely than other children to have developed a cat allergy by age 4. Asthma attacks are typically triggered by an allergic reaction to an environmental irritant such as pet dander, dust mites or cigarette smoke.

Dr. Erik Melen of the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, led the study. Besides the risk from early exposure to cats, Melen's team also found that children's risk of developing cat allergies was higher in homes harboring greater amounts of allergen-containing dust. Also, the combination of high cat allergen levels and parental smoking was linked to more severe asthma symptoms.

The researchers note that some experts have recommended that families with a history of allergy and asthma keep cats out of the home for at least the first 2 years of a child's life.

``Our data clearly indicate that wheezy children should not live in homes where pets are kept,'' Melen and colleagues conclude. ``Furthermore, they should preferably not have lived in such a home during their first few years, particularly not if the pet was a cat and a parent a smoker.''

SOURCE: Allergy 2001;56:646-652.

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