The relationship between preterm birth and childhood allergic rhinitis in Taiwan

[[abstract]]Background: At present, the effect of preterm birth on allergic rhinitis in pediatric populations has remained inconclusive. We aimed to investigate the relationship between preterm birth and allergic rhinitis among Taiwanese children. Method: This study included 613 children (aged 6.3 ± 0.3 years; 345 boys, 56.3%) participating in the Longitudinal Investigation of Global Health in Taiwanese Schoolchildren (LIGHTS) cohort. Information of demography, epidemiology and physician‐diagnosed rhinitis was collected from a modified International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire. Preterm birth was defined as gestational age less than 37 weeks. Atopy status was determined by Phadiatop Infant. Multiple logistic regression models were used for data analysis. Adjusted confounders included gender, age, number of older siblings, maternal allergic rhinitis, maternal age at delivery and socioeconomic status. Results: The rate of preterm birth among the study subjects was 18.2%. The prevalence of physician‐diagnosed rhinitis was 50.6%. There was no significant association between preterm birth and physician‐diagnosed rhinitis (P = 0.43). When stratifying by atopy status, we found that preterm birth was associated with physiciandiagnosed rhinitis among children without atopy (adjusted OR [AOR] = 0.33, 95% CI = 0.12‐0.93, P = 0.04), but not among children with atopy (P = 0.77). When further classifying by gender, greater protective effect of preterm birth on rhinitis was only found in boys without atopy (AOR = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.03‐0.56, P = 0.007). Conclusion: The results suggest that preterm birth may have a protective effect against the development of childhood rhinitis in our study population. The protective effect is only observed in boys without atopy. Further investigations will be merited to confirm these findings and to investigate underlying mechanisms