American researchers have suggested that children with asthma may have memory problems – performing worse in memory tasks than their peers without the condition – and a higher risk of dementia in later life.
In a sample of 473 children who were followed for two years, the scientists found that those with an earlier asthma onset also had a slower development of memory over time.
Lead author Simona Ghetti, a professor of psychology at the University of California-Davis Centre for Mind and Brain, said: “Our findings underscore the importance of looking at asthma as a potential source of cognitive difficulty in children.
“We are becoming increasingly aware that chronic diseases, not only asthma but also diabetes, heart disease and others, may place children at increased risk of these types of difficulties, and need to understand the factors that might exacerbate or protect against them.”
The Independent reports that previous studies with older adults and with animals had associated asthma with a greater risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, both of which affect memory.
Nicholas Christopher-Hayes, a PhD candidate in psychology at UC Davis and the study’s first author, said: “Asthma might set children on a trajectory that could increase their risk to later develop something more serious like dementia as adults.”
Although the study, published in JAMA Network Open, did not look at the mechanism responsible for memory difficulties associated with asthma, the researchers cite potential factors, such as prolonged inflammation from asthma or repeated disruptions in oxygen supply to the brain due to asthma attacks.
The study included data from 2 062 children, nine to 10-years-old, with asthma, to test how the condition might affect episodic memory and other cognitive measures.
The smaller sample that followed the children for two years included 473 children.
Study details
Asthma and Memory Function in Children
Nicholas Christopher-Hayes, Sarah Haynes, Nicholas Kenyon et al
Published in JAMA Network Open on 11 November 2024
Importance
Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease affecting approximately 5m children in the US. Rodent models of asthma indicate memory deficits, but little is known about whether asthma alters children’s memory development.
Objective
To assess whether childhood asthma is associated with lower memory abilities in children.
Design, Setting, and Participants
This cohort study used observational data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, a multisite longitudinal investigation that began enrolment in 2015. Approximately 11 800 children aged 9 to 10 years were enrolled at baseline with follow-up at 1 and 2 years. Participants were selected based on exposures described subsequently to determine longitudinal and cross-sectional associations between asthma and memory. Data were analysed from Month year to Month year.
Exposures
Asthma was determined from parent reports. For the longitudinal analysis, children were selected if they had asthma at baseline and at the 2-year follow-up (earlier childhood onset), at the 2-year follow-up only (later childhood onset), or no history of asthma. For the cross-sectional analysis, children were selected if they had asthma at any time point, or no history of asthma. The comparison group of children with asthma history was matched on demographic and health covariates for each analysis.
Main Outcomes and Measures
The primary outcome was episodic memory. Secondary outcomes included processing speed, inhibition and attention.
Results
Four hundred and seventy-four children were included in the longitudinal analysis (earlier childhood onset: 135 children; mean [SD] age, 9.90 [0.63] years; 76 [56%] male; 53 [28%] black, 29 [21%] Hispanic or Latino, and 91 [48%] white; later childhood onset: 102 children; mean [SD] age 9.88 [0.59] years; 54 [53%] female; 22 [17%] black, 19 [19%] Hispanic or Latino, and 83 [63%] white; comparison: 237 children; mean [SD] age, 9.89 [0.59] years; 121 [51%] male; 47 [15%] black, 48 [20%] Hispanic or Latino, and 194 [62%] white). Children with earlier onset of asthma exhibited lower rates of longitudinal memory improvements relative to the comparison group (β = −0.17; 95% CI, −0.28 to −0.05; P = .01). Two thousand sixty-two children were selected for the cross-sectional analysis (with asthma: 1031 children; mean [SD] age, 11.99 [0.66] years; 588 [57%] male; 360 [27%] black, 186 [18%] Hispanic or Latino, and 719 [54%] white; without asthma: 1031 children; mean [SD] age 12.00 [0.66] years; 477 [54%] female; 273 [21%] black, 242 [23%] Hispanic or Latino, and 782 [59%] white). Children with asthma (1031 children) showed lower scores on episodic memory (β = −0.09; 95% CI, −0.18 to −0.01; P = .04), processing speed (β = −0.13; 95% CI, −0.22 to −0.03; P = .01), and inhibition and attention (β = −0.11; 95% CI, −0.21 to −0.02; P = .02).
Conclusions and Relevance
In this cohort study, asthma was associated with memory difficulties in children, which may be more severe if asthma onset is earlier in childhood and may extend to executive function abilities.
JJAMA Network Open article – Asthma and Memory Function in Children (Open access)
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