TORONTO – A Canadian study will attempt to look at the early influences and development of allergies and asthma by starting with babies in the womb. This new research will follow 5,000 children from their mother’s pregnancy to age 5.

Pregnant women are being enrolled in 4 major Canadian centres: Vancouver through BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre; Edmonton through Grey Nuns Community, Misericordia Community, Royal Alexandra and Sturgeon Community Hospitals; Winnipeg through St Boniface General Hospital and Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre; and, Toronto through Mount Sinai Hospital.

This multi-faceted study will collect data on the role of environmental exposures, infections, nutrition and genetics. Each of these factors has been posited as a potential agent in the development of both asthma and allergies. The study will also look the attitudes of the general public concerning food allergy as well as food labeling effectiveness for those with allergies.

The study will be called the CHILD study, an acronym that comes from Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development study. Dr. Malcolm Sears, a professor of medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, will be the lead researcher.

Sears says this research will contribute to the future treatment of asthma and allergies. He also indicates that assessments of indoor air quality (which will be done as part of the study) could eventually influence home construction regulations.

Funding of $12 million has been announced for the study, with $6 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (which is part of Health Canada) and $6 million from AllerGen. Allergen is the Allergy, Genes and Environment research network, which is located on the campus of McMaster University in Hamilton.

AllerGen’s scientific director, Dr. Judah Denburg, says: “This study will help us understand why allergies and asthma are common problems in children, and it will help develop new therapies”.

Allergies are a growing problem in many developed countries, with almost 1 in 5 people suffering from asthma in Canada, while 1 in 3 end up with allergies.

SOURCE: CBC News