School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
School of Public Health and Health Policy, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Clin Exp Allergy. 2017 May;47(5):675-683. doi: 10.1111/cea.12896. Epub 2017 Mar 8.
In developed Western settings, asthma is more prevalent among second-generation compared to first-generation migrants. However, these studies are difficult to interpret as they include migrants of various ethnicities and countries of origin.
We assessed the association of parental migrant status with wheezing disorders among children born in Hong Kong, a developed non-Western setting, where many children have migrant parents from mainland China of the same ethnicity.
We used Cox regression to examine the adjusted associations of parental migrant status with time to first public hospital admission for asthma, bronchitis and bronchiolitis (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Version Clinical Modification 466, 490 and 493) from 9 days to 12 years in a population-representative birth cohort of 8327 Chinese children in Hong Kong.
Having both parents as migrants was associated with higher risk of hospitalization for asthma and other wheezing disorders, compared to both parents being Hong Kong born (hazard ratio 1.30, 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.60 from 9 days to 6 years), adjusted for type of hospital at birth, parental history of allergies, mother's age at birth, father's age at birth and highest parental education.
In the unique, non-Western context of Hong Kong, second-generation migrants had higher risk of hospitalization for childhood wheezing disorders compared to the native population, particularly before 6 years of age. Further study is required to clarify the underlying mechanisms involved.
在发达的西方环境中，与第一代移民相比，第二代移民患哮喘的比例更高。然而，由于这些研究包含了来自不同种族和原籍国的移民，因此难以解释。
我们评估了父母的移民身份与在香港出生的儿童喘息性疾病之间的关联，香港是一个发达的非西方环境，许多儿童的父母是来自中国大陆的移民，他们具有相同的种族背景。
我们使用 Cox 回归分析来检查父母移民身份与因哮喘、支气管炎和细支气管炎（国际疾病分类，第九版临床修正版 466、490 和 493）首次在公立医院住院治疗之间的调整关联，该研究对象为香港一个具有代表性的 8327 名中国儿童的出生队列，随访时间为 9 天至 12 年。
与父母均为香港出生相比，父母双方均为移民与哮喘和其他喘息性疾病的住院风险更高（9 天至 6 岁的危险比为 1.30，95%置信区间为 1.05-1.60），调整了出生医院类型、父母过敏史、母亲出生年龄、父亲出生年龄和父母最高教育程度。
在香港这个独特的非西方环境中，与本地人口相比，第二代移民儿童在儿童期喘息性疾病住院治疗的风险更高，尤其是在 6 岁之前。需要进一步研究以阐明相关的潜在机制。
