Association of helminth infestation with childhood asthma: a nested case-control study

Objectives: The association between helminthiasis and asthma remains inconclusive but can only be in-vestigated in counties where helminthiasis is transitioning from a high to low burden. We investigated this association using data from a childhood respiratory cohort in Sri Lanka. Methods: A case-control study was nested within a population-based cohort of children aged 6-14 years in Sri Lanka. The stool samples of 190 children with asthma and 190 children without asthma were an-alyzed to assess the burden of helminth infestation. Logistic regression models were fitted to investigate the association of gastrointestinal helminth species with asthma. Results: Helminthiasis in children with and without asthma was 23.3% (n = 44) and 15.3% (n = 23), respectively. Those with asthma were more likely to have helminthiasis (odds ratio 3.7; 95% confidence interval 1.7, 7.7; P = 0.001), particularly with Trichiuris trichura (odds ratio 4.5; 95% confidence interval 1.6, 12.3; P = 0.004). Helminth eggs per gram of feces were not associated with asthma ( P > 0.05).Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate a positive association between T. trichura infestation and asthma and point to the need to fully characterize this association to understand the likely immunological mech-anism that drives it. This association highlights an important public health intervention in countries where these infestations are still prevalent, affecting 24% of the population worldwide.(c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )

Automated summary

The study in Sri Lanka found a significant association between asthma and helminthiasis, particularly with Trichiuris trichura infection.