Asthma is a heterogeneous disorder, and the prevalence is increasing worldwide. The BCG vaccine is hypothesized to lower the risk of asthma by modulating specific aspects of T-cell mediated immunity (termed Th1 and Th2). We conducted a case-control study to determine the relationship between BCG vaccine given to children born and raised in Quebec and asthma in adult subjects. 93 case subjects with a clinical diagnosis of asthma and 118 control subjects without asthma answered a standardized questionnaire, and BCG vaccination status was verified in a central registry. After adjusting for potential confounders, vaccination with BCG after the age of one was associated with a reduced odds of adult-onset asthma (odds ratio: 0.3 (0.1-0.98)), and specifically of adult-onset atopic asthma (odds ratio: 0.2 (0.1-0.9)). These results suggest a critical time frame in immune system maturation during which administration of BCG vaccine may lower the risk of adult-onset asthma.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.82420 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Samuel, George |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002198896, proquestno: AAIMR12535, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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