RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Association of antibiotics use in preschool age with atopic and allergic skin diseases in young adulthood: a population-based retrospective cohort study
JF BMJ Open
JO BMJ Open
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP e047768
DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047768
VO 11
IS 9
A1 Li, Yajia
A1 Jing, Danrong
A1 Huang, Yuzhou
A1 Su, Juan
A1 Li, Jie
A1 Li, Ji
A1 Tao, Juan
A1 Shan, Shijun
A1 Wang, Xiaohui
A1 Kang, Xiaojing
A1 Wu, Bin
A1 Chen, Xiang
A1 Shen, Minxue
A1 Xiao, Yi
YR 2021
UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/9/e047768.abstract
AB Background Overuse and misuse of antibiotics is a public health problem in low-income and middle-income countries. Although the association of antibiotics with atopic and allergic diseases has been established, most studies focused on prenatal exposure and the occurrence of disease in infants or young children.Objective To investigate the association of preschool use of antibiotics with atopic and allergic skin diseases in young adulthood.Design Population-based retrospective cohort.Setting and participants The first-year college students (n=20 123) from five universities were investigated. The sampled universities are located in Changsha, Wuhan, Xiamen, Urumqi and Hohhot, respectively.Methods We conducted a dermatological field examination and a questionnaire survey inquiring the participants about the frequency of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and the preschool antibiotics use (prior to 7 years old). The two-level probit model was used to estimate the associations, and adjusted risk ratio (aRR) and 95% CI were presented as the effect size.Results A total of 20 123 participants with complete information was included in the final analysis. The frequent antibiotics use intravenously (aRR 1.36, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.62) and orally (aRR 1.18, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.38) prior to 7 years old was significantly associated with atopic dermatitis in young adulthood. Similar trends could be observed in allergic skin diseases among those who use antibiotics orally and intravenously, with RRs of 1.16 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.34) and 1.33 (95% CI 1.13 to 1.57), respectively.Conclusions Preschool URTI and antibiotics use significantly increases the risk of atopic and allergic skin diseases in young adulthood.Data are available upon reasonable request. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.