by Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2011) — When babies are given antibiotics, their risk of developing asthma by age 6 may increase by 50 percent. This relationship between antibiotic use in babies less than six months old and risk of developing asthma was documented in a study conducted by Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) researcher Kari Risnes.

The research was conducted while Risnes was a visiting researcher at Yale University, and resulted in the recent online publication of the article in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

“Asthma is a very common disease. At the same time, about one-third of infants in our study were treated with antibiotics by the time they were six months old. This proportion is about 30 per cent in other Western countries,” says Risnes.

The Yale study followed 1400 children and mothers from the beginning of pregnancy until the children were six years old.

Read the Full Article Here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110127090152.htm