Pharmacoepidemiological study of association between prenatal and postnatal exposure of antibiotics and allergic diseases in children

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K19182
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Applied pharmacology
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Yoshida Satomi 京都大学, 医学研究科, 特定助教 (30635066)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 薬剤疫学 / 抗菌薬の使用実態 / アレルギー疾患 / 公衆衛生学 / 胎児期曝露 / 出生コホート

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of our study was to evaluate the association between antibiotic exposure in early life and allergic diseases in childhood. We conducted a retrospective cohort study by using a large-scale claim database in Japan. Data were obtained from an administrative claims database maintained by the Japan Medical Data Center.
Our results showed that exposure to antibiotics during the first year of life was associated with development of childhood asthma. In contrast, we did not find enough evidence for an association between prenatal exposure and asthma development because of the weak relationship observed.
While, our analysis did not identifying the situation for which antibiotics had been prescribed. Children who are at a risk of asthma may likely be prescribed antibiotics, resulting in an indication bias between antibiotic use and asthma development and thus, further studies addressing indication bias of antibiotics are needed.

Free Research Field

薬剤疫学