Asthma is the number one chronic disease of childhood, and the third most common chronic disease in Canada. 300 Canadians are diagnosed with asthma every day, and it disproportionately affects younger children. What if we could do something to prevent asthma from developing in the first place? That question is what prompted us to support research investigating whether asthma can be prevented, leading to reduced suffering, and ultimately, saving lives.
The Asthma Burden
Preventing asthma in children is critically important for several reasons. Besides improved health and well-being, preventing asthma would greatly reduce costs to the healthcare system, like the cost of emergency room visits, costs for asthma medications, specialist appointments, and the like. Preventing asthma would help ease the financial burden on families as well. A 2024 community asthma survey conducted by Asthma Canada revealed that 66% of respondents experienced some level of financial strain related to managing their asthma.
It would also decrease school absences and associated caregiver burden, while improving health equity, as asthma tends to disproportionately impact communities that experience inequities due to systemic barriers and determinants of health, often due to environmental factors like air pollution.
New Research Leads to a Surprising Connection
When a child has an asthma attack, we don’t often think about whether the child was given antibiotics or fed breast milk as an infant. Yet, researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) discovered there could be a link. The team examined whether reducing unnecessary antibiotic exposure during infancy and promoting breastfeeding can contribute to the global reversal of asthma and allergic disease. The short answer? Yes!
Prompted by evidence that in recent years, antibiotic use was decreasing drastically in babies, as was asthma in babies and children, Dr David Patrick, lead for antimicrobial resistance at BCCDC, and his team of researchers, began investigating this connection by building two of the largest cohorts in BC and Manitoba to ever address the topic, studying administrative health data from 2001-2018.
“The asthma folks did a double-take and said, ‘Well, wait a minute. Asthma is coming down too, especially in kids.’ And this raised the question for us as to whether these things [asthma and antibiotics] were connected.” — Dr David Patrick
Their research — published in Frontiers in Allergy — found a significantly elevated risk of asthma and allergic diseases in children exposed to antibiotics in infancy in both provinces, after accounting for many other early life factors. Their research showed that antibiotics most likely caused the problem by disrupting development of a healthy microbiome — the healthy bacteria in the developing gut of the infant — which affects predisposition towards allergic responses, like asthma.
Uncovering the Factors Behind the Rise of Childhood Asthma
According to Dr Patrick, there was a significant increase in childhood asthma in the 20th century, and two significant things were happening at once: doctors were dispensing antibiotics freely to babies and children, and corporations were advocating for the benefits of formula feeding. These two factors combined to create a problem.
It’s important to note that breastfeeding is not linked to causing or preventing asthma; rather, it’s that breastfeeding has a positive effect on children who are given antibiotics. Breast milk contains beneficial substances that help healthy bacteria in the body to recover when affected by antibiotics. Additionally, the recovery of healthy bacteria seems to have a positive impact on reducing the risk of allergies, including asthma, in children.
Spreading the Word to Keep Children Healthy
Our Foundation has supported this project by teaming up with one of our valuable partners, TB Vets, to help fund the knowledge translation of this work. Publishing these findings, creating an e-book for interested parties to download, and working with families, new parents, expecting parents, and primary care providers to create videos to educate about being antibiotic-wise, will help influence attitudes, policy, and potential investment in this work across Canada and beyond. This is applied public health work in real-time — translating evidence into change that advances equity and promotes health — and it is only with the support of our donors that this kind of work can take place.
“It’s a lot of common sense things coming together to say that this inevitable asthma epidemic we saw emerging at the late twentieth century, may not be inevitable. We may be able to turn around large parts of it. And that’s where the Foundation came in. They knew this story needed to be packaged so that people understand it. We’re grateful to the Foundation for helping us get all this information together and out. For professionals, yes, but, because decisions are made by politicians and by the public, we need to reach that audience too.” — Dr David Patrick
”For 75 years, TB Vets Charitable Foundation has supported British Columbians suffering from respiratory emergencies. We are very proud to partner with our friends at PPHF to support research that has the potential to unlock the key to preventing asthma, one of the world’s most pervasive respiratory illnesses.” — Kandys Merola, President and CEO, TB Vets Charitable Foundation
A Future with Reduced Asthma in Children
With these new findings, we hope that over time, there will be less unnecessary antibiotic use in infancy, the promotion of breastfeeding when possible, and consequently, fewer children suffering from asthma. This will improve the well-being of millions of children worldwide, and ease the financial burden of treatment-related costs on families, and the healthcare system.
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This project demonstrates the benefit of investing in prevention and public health. It is proactive rather than reactive, and by focusing upstream on root causes, we collectively save time and resources, advance equity, and better protect community health and resiliency. Please donate to help support these kinds of important initiatives.
