NEW YORK — Mothers who have previously used oral contraceptive pills seem more likely to have children with nasal allergies, Finnish researchers report.
Dr. Leea Keski-Nisula, of Kuopio University, Finland, and colleagues note in the medical journal Allergy that there has been a suggestion of an association between oral contraceptive use and allergic diseases.
To investigate, the researchers studied 618 asthmatic children aged 5 or 6 years and compared them with 564 similar but unaffected children.
The team found that, compared to children whose mothers had not used oral contraceptives, those who had taken the pill within a year of becoming pregnant had a 67 percent greater likelihood of having a child with allergic rhinitis, or nasal allergy.
This was particularly the case in families where the parents had allergies, and this association was stronger in boys.
There was no association between mothers' use of the pill and the occurrence of asthma or eczema in their offspring.
The results are "tentative and possibly provocative," the investigators say, and they suggest that an allergy study of oral contraceptives may be of value.
SOURCE: Allergy, December 2006 (abstract below)
source: http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2006/12/29/eline/links/20061229elin026.html 7jan2007
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Allergy |
Background: Maternal use of oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) might increase the prevalence of allergic diseases among offspring. The aim of the study was to clarify if there are differences between OCP types in this association.
Methods: Primary outcomes were asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic eczema among 1182 children (618 asthmatic and 564 controls) aged 5–6 years.
Results: Maternal previous use of desogestrel, gestodene or cyproterone acetate before pregnancy, each combined with ethinyloestradiol (EO), increased the risk of allergic rhinitis among offspring compared with those children whose mothers had not used OCPs (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.07–2.59, P < 0.024), and this risk was increased mainly in those children with parental allergy (OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.11–2.86, P < 0.018), especially in boys (OR 2.12, 95% CI 1.17–3.84, P < 0.014). No associations were observed between maternal use of OCPs before pregnancy and asthma or atopic eczema among offspring. The association between the previous use of OCPs and allergic rhinitis was not mediated through maternal sex steroid levels during early pregnancy, but women who had used more androgenic types of progestin formulas had higher serum levels of progesterone during early pregnancy.
Conclusion: Maternal previous use of desogestrel, gestodene or cyproterone acetate before pregnancy, each combined with EO, increased the risk of allergic rhinitis among offspring compared with those children whose mothers had not used OCPs and this risk was detected mainly in boys and in children with parental allergy.
source: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1398-9995.2006.01201.x 7jan2007
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