The role of age at asthma diagnosis in the development of triggers of asthma episodes

This study examined the relationship of age at asthma diagnosis to the subs equent impacts of 12 common asthma triggers, which we classified as either mainly physically based or strongly psychosocially mediated. The physically based triggers were air pollution, cigarette smoke, high humidity, high/lo w environmental temperature, allergy problems, respiratory infection, physi cal activity, and nighttime hours; the psychosocially mediated triggers wer e stress or worry, anger, excitement, and laughter. Data were collected wit h questionnaires from families with asthmatic children (n = 115), 2 to 20 y ears of age, as part of a larger study of biological and psychosocial facto rs in asthma and other illnesses. Using parents' reports, we classified the children as early-diagnosed (before age 2) or later-diagnosed (at or after 2) for asthma and compared these groups, separated by gender, in 2 x 2 mul tivariate analyses. The impacts of all four psychosocially mediated trigger s on asthma attacks were significantly greater for the later-diagnosed chil dren than the early-diagnosed children. No age of diagnosis differences wer e found for any of the physically based triggers, and no gender or interact ion effects were found for either type of trigger. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scienc e Inc. All rights reserved.