C-section babies

Researchers link C-section babies to asthma risk

Swiss researchers said: babies born by Caesarean section are more likely to develop asthma than children delivered naturally. There has been conflicting evidence on the link between asthma & C-sections but the researchers said the number of children involved in their study and a long
monitoring period strengthened their results.

Asthma, which affects more than 300 million people worldwide, is the most common pediatric chronic illness. Symptoms include wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing and chest tightness. Babies born by C-section are not exposed to their mother's bacteria when they pass through the birth canal, something that helps prime the immune system and could explain the increased risk.


The Swiss findings are based on nearly 3,000 children whose respiratory health was monitored until age eight. By this time, about 12%, or 362 children, had been diagnosed with asthma for which a doctor had prescribed inhaled steroids. About 9 percent of the children were born by C-section but these babies were nearly 80% more likely to develop asthma compared to those born vaginally.

The association was even stronger for the 9% of the children with two allergic parents who were already more predisposed to the respiratory condition, they wrote. The findings follow a Norwegian study in July suggesting babies born by C-section have a moderately increased asthma risk. Other studies have found no link between C-sections and a child's long-term health, including asthma.