Exposure To Mold May Lead To Childhood Asthma

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - We know that nearly 9 million children in the US have asthma. Certainly there are medications that help the kids fight asthma and the once dramatic lifestyle changes like telling children to not play sports because they are "sickly" are well behind us. But it is quite clear that if we help control exposure to certain triggers in the environment we can help reduce the symptoms of asthma.

For instance previous studies have shown that mold exposure contributes to the development of the condition, particularly in children.

According to researchers at the University of Cincinnati, children exposed to higher levels of mold at 1 year of age were almost 3 times as likely to develop asthma by the age of 7 as kids with lower mold exposures during infancy. However when kids were older and had mold exposures at 7 years of age they were not as likely to have asthma.

The researchers think that early life exposure to mold seems to play a critical role in childhood asthma development. Obviously it make sense to try and control mold damage in the home.

Reported By Dr. Brian McDonough, KYW Newsradio Medical Editor