Parental employment, income, education and allergic disorders in children: a prebirth cohort study in Japan.

SETTING

Epidemiological evidence on the relationship between socio-economic status and allergic disorders has been inconsistent.

OBJECTIVES

We examined the associations between maternal employment, maternal job type, household income, and paternal and maternal educational levels and the risk of allergic disorders in Japanese children aged 4.5 years.

DESIGN

Subjects were 480 mother-child pairs. Definitions of wheeze and eczema symptoms were based on criteria of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. Data on self-reported doctor-diagnosed asthma and atopic eczema were available.

RESULTS

Compared with children whose mothers had received less than 13 years of education, those with mothers with ≥15 years of education had a significantly increased risk of wheeze and doctor-diagnosed asthma: the adjusted ORs were respectively 2.41 (95%CI 1.18-5.17) and 2.70 (95%CI 1.03-8.08). Fifteen years or more of paternal education was independently associated with an increased risk of eczema, but not of doctor-diagnosed atopic eczema (adjusted OR 1.89, 95%CI 1.07-3.42). Mother's employment, mother's job type and household income were not related to any of the outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Higher maternal educational level may increase the risk of wheeze and asthma, while higher paternal educational level may increase the risk of eczema.