TY - JOUR
T1 - Associations among maternal childhood socioeconomic status, cord blood IgE levels, and repeated wheeze in urban children
AU - Sternthal, Michelle J.
AU - Coull, Brent A.
AU - Chiu, Yueh Hsiu Mathilda
AU - Cohen, Sheldon
AU - Wright, Rosalind J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: B. A. Coull receives research support from the National Institutes of Health and the US Environmental Protection Agency . R. J. Wright receives research support from the National Institutes of Health . The rest of the authors have declared that they have no conflict of interest.
Funding Information:
The Asthma Coalition on Community, Environment, and Social Stress study is funded by grants R01 ES10932, U01 HL072494, and R01 HL080674 (R.J.W., principal investigator). M. J. Sternthal was supported by grant T32-ES07069-29 and the Leaves of Grass Foundation .
PY - 2011/8
Y1 - 2011/8
N2 - Background: Independent of current socioeconomic status (SES), past maternal SES might influence asthma outcomes in children. Objective: We examined associations among the mother's SES in the first 10 years of her life (maternal childhood SES), increased cord blood IgE levels (upper 20% [1.37 IU/mL]), and repeated wheeze (≥2 episodes by age 2 years) in an urban pregnancy cohort (n = 510). Methods: Data on sociodemographics, discrimination, financial strain, community violence, interpersonal trauma, and other negative events were obtained prenatally. Prenatal household dust was assayed for cockroach and murine allergens, and traffic-related air pollution was estimated by using spatiotemporal land-use regression. Maternal childhood SES was defined by parental home ownership (birth to 10 years). Maternally reported child wheeze was ascertained at 3-month intervals from birth. Using structural equation models, we examined whether outcomes were dependent on maternal childhood SES directly versus indirect relationships operating through (1) cumulative SES-related adversities, (2) the mother's socioeconomic trajectory (adult SES), and (3) current prenatal environmental exposures. Results: Mothers were largely Hispanic (60%) or black (28%), 37% had not completed high school, and 56% reported parental home ownership. When associations between low maternal childhood SES and repeated wheeze were examined, there were significant indirect effects operating through adult SES and prenatal cumulative stress (β = 0.28, P = .003) and pollution (β = 0.24, P = .004; P value for total indirect effects ≤ .04 for both pathways). Low maternal childhood SES was directly related to increased cord blood IgE levels (β = 0.21, P = .003). Maternal cumulative adversity (interpersonal trauma) was also associated with increased cord blood IgE levels (β = 0.19, P = .01), although this did not explain maternal childhood SES effects. Conclusion: Lower maternal childhood SES was associated with increased cord blood IgE levels and repeated wheeze through both direct and indirect effects, providing new insights into the role of social inequalities as determinants of childhood respiratory risk.
AB - Background: Independent of current socioeconomic status (SES), past maternal SES might influence asthma outcomes in children. Objective: We examined associations among the mother's SES in the first 10 years of her life (maternal childhood SES), increased cord blood IgE levels (upper 20% [1.37 IU/mL]), and repeated wheeze (≥2 episodes by age 2 years) in an urban pregnancy cohort (n = 510). Methods: Data on sociodemographics, discrimination, financial strain, community violence, interpersonal trauma, and other negative events were obtained prenatally. Prenatal household dust was assayed for cockroach and murine allergens, and traffic-related air pollution was estimated by using spatiotemporal land-use regression. Maternal childhood SES was defined by parental home ownership (birth to 10 years). Maternally reported child wheeze was ascertained at 3-month intervals from birth. Using structural equation models, we examined whether outcomes were dependent on maternal childhood SES directly versus indirect relationships operating through (1) cumulative SES-related adversities, (2) the mother's socioeconomic trajectory (adult SES), and (3) current prenatal environmental exposures. Results: Mothers were largely Hispanic (60%) or black (28%), 37% had not completed high school, and 56% reported parental home ownership. When associations between low maternal childhood SES and repeated wheeze were examined, there were significant indirect effects operating through adult SES and prenatal cumulative stress (β = 0.28, P = .003) and pollution (β = 0.24, P = .004; P value for total indirect effects ≤ .04 for both pathways). Low maternal childhood SES was directly related to increased cord blood IgE levels (β = 0.21, P = .003). Maternal cumulative adversity (interpersonal trauma) was also associated with increased cord blood IgE levels (β = 0.19, P = .01), although this did not explain maternal childhood SES effects. Conclusion: Lower maternal childhood SES was associated with increased cord blood IgE levels and repeated wheeze through both direct and indirect effects, providing new insights into the role of social inequalities as determinants of childhood respiratory risk.
KW - Childhood socioeconomic status
KW - childhood wheeze
KW - cord blood IgE
KW - inner-city
KW - intergenerational
KW - life course
KW - structural equation models
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/79961014651
U2 - 10.1016/j.jaci.2011.05.008
DO - 10.1016/j.jaci.2011.05.008
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79961014651
SN - 0091-6749
VL - 128
SP - 337-345.e1
JO - Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
JF - Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
IS - 2
ER -