– Now we have the opportunity to see if reduced respiratory infections and reduced antibiotic prescriptions reduce the risk of being ill in, for example, asthma later in life, says Christina West, professor at Umeå University.
The study has been conducted within the research project Northpop at Umeå University in collaboration with Region Västerbotten. There is no similar study in Sweden.
It shows that the strict infection protection measures during the pandemic may have reduced children’s contact with viruses and bacteria.
Airway infections in infants can affect the immune system and increase the risk of asthma later in life. Early use of antibiotic has also been linked to increased risk of asthma.
– The children up to 1.5 years of age who grew up during the pandemic had a reduced risk of contracting, for example, bronchitis and virus group compared to the control group with children born before the pandemic, says Christina West.
“Reduced immunity”
More than 3,300 families were included in the study and the children were followed to one and a half years of age. The parents had to respond to surveys about the child’s colds, allergy and asthma symptoms, as well as heredity and growing environment.
The children in the Northpop study are still being followed, and in a few years the researchers hope to be able to comment on Pandemin’s long-term impact on the risk of asthma and allergies.
-The shutdown of society reduced the risk for young children to get sick, but the result also became a reduced immunity, so now we have instead had very severe epidemics of RS virus, so it remains to be seen what it will have for consequences forward. It is probably that right is best when it comes to infection, says Christina West.