Association between contact with animals during childhood and occupational asthma

Introduction: Early childhood seems to be a critical stage for allergic diseases, since it is during this period that an intensified susceptibility to environmental antigens can be developed. Objective: Determine the relationship between contact with animals during childhood and the occurrence of occupational asthma (OA)to vegetable textile dust(VTD). Materials and methods: We carried a case-control study. Cases and controls were collected from the occupational medicine department. The group of cases included patients with OA to VTD.The control group was paired according to age and gender, and randomly selected among workers with other non-allergic occupational diseases working in the textile sector. Data collection was performed using a pre-established synoptic sheet for the assessment of the socio-demographic and occupational characteristics completed from medical records and a direct phone call with each participant. Results: We enrolled 57 cases of OA and 112 controls. A predominance of women was noticed. The majority of the controls (88.4%)had contact with animals during their childhood versus approximately one third of the cases with a statistically significant difference (p<10-3).Animal contact was a protective factor for OA(OR=0.61;IC at 95%= [0.03-0.13]).OA was significantly associated with childhood contact with: poultry (p<10-3), dogs (p<10-3),cats (p<10-3),cattle (0.033),sheep (p<10-3),and goats (p=0.016).After multiple binary logistic regression, contact with cats was an independent protective factor of OA to VTD (p=0.001; ORa=0.16; ICa at 95%= [0.05-0.46]). Conclusion: Early life contact with pets may protect from the development of allergic asthma.