For the expecting family, the last thing that you want to find out is that something is wrong. Hearing the news that your bouncing little baby is fit and healthy will naturally mean the world to you.
A study found that the symptoms leading to asthma may be more than a simple case of nature vs nurture, with evidence pertaining to the theory that it may also be gender-related.
Whilst an inherited condition, the likelihood apparently increases when the child is the same gender as their asthma-inflicted parent. Furthermore, Professor Hasan Arshad, DM, a consultant in allergy and immunology at Southampton General Hospital, discovered that other allergies such as eczema may also be gender-related.
Arshad and his team conducted tests on the Isle of Wight, on children aged one, two, four, 10 and 18. The skin-prick test looked at common allergies such as shellfish, dust mites and eggs and a sample of blood was taken to measure the amount of immunity with each patient. This was then conducted for each parent of the same gender as their child.
The blood tests were searching for an anti-body known as immunoglobulin (also known as IgE), which monitors the body’s resistance to various allergies and chemicals. In most cases, those without allergies tend to have good levels, meaning that they have a healthy amount of resistance.
What was found was that the risk of asthma was higher if their parent also had it – what was interesting however was that the risk of maternal and paternal eczema also increased the risk of the child having eczema too if they were the same gender as the parent.
Arshad now hopes that by knowing that the causes of allergies may be gender-related, it will add one more feather in his cap into finding out how to prevent childhood disorders from happening, as well as diagnosing and treating them efficiently.