Parental occupational exposure pre- and post-conception and development of asthma in offspring

Background: While direct effects of occupational exposures on an individual's respiratory health are evident, a new paradigm is emerging on the possible effects of pre-conception occupational exposure on respiratory health in offspring. We aimed to study the association between parental occupational exposure starting before conception and asthma in their offspring (at 0-15 years of age). Methods: We studied 3985 offspring participating in the Respiratory Health in Northern Europe, Spain and Australia (RHINESSA) generation study. Their mothers or fathers (n = 2931) previously participated in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS). Information was obtained from questionnaires on parental job history pre- and post-conception which was linked to an asthma-specific job-exposure matrix (JEM). We assessed the association between parental occupational exposure and offspring asthma, applying logistic regression models, clustered by family and adjusted for study centre, offspring sex, parental characteristics (age, asthma onset, place of upbringing, smoking) and grandparents' level of education. Results: Parental occupational exposure to microorganisms, pesticides, allergens or reactive chemicals pre-conception or both pre- and post-conception was not related to offspring asthma; in general, subgroup analyses confirmed this result. However, maternal exposure both pre- and post-conception to allergens and reactive chemicals was associated with increased odds for early-onset asthma in offspring (0-3 years of age); odds ratio 1.70 (95% CI: 1.02-2.84) and 1.65 (95% CI: 0.98-2.77), respectively. Conclusions: This study did not find evidence that parental occupational exposure, defined by an asthma JEM before conception only or during pre- and post-conception vs non-exposed, was associated with offspring asthma. This work was supported by funding from The Faculty of Health, Aarhus University, Denmark [Project No. 240008], The Wood Dust Foundation [Project No. 444508795], The Danish Lung Association, the Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation, the Swedish Association Against Asthma and Allergy, the Swedish Association against Heart and Lung Disease, the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, The Bror Hjerpstedt Foundation, The Vårdal Foundation for Health Care and Allergic Research, The Norwegian Research Council [project 135773/33], The Norwegian Asthma and Allergy Association, HelseVest Norway [Grant no. 911 631], NFR [Grant no. 214123, 230827/F20, 228174], The University of Iceland Research Fund, The Icelandic GP's Research Fund, The Estonian Science Foundation [Grant No. 4350], The Estonian Research Council [Grant no. PUT562], the Australian National Health Medical Research Council, Melbourne University, Sociedad Española de Neumologia y Cirugía Toracica, SEPAR Spain and Horizon2020 PHC1 [Grant no. 633212]. For more information, please see www.rhinessa.net. V.S. and C.S. are members of the COST BM1201 network. K.P. received a PhD scholarship from Aarhus University and the Danish Working Environment Research Fund, Denmark [Grant no. 17–2015–09/20150067134]. X.L. is supported by the Danish Council for Independent Research [Project No. DFF-5053-00156B].