This subject came up in conversation between myself and another member via pm but felt it was something I wanted to ask and see what people knew and how many people it's affected
Is asthma linked to premature birth ?
How many of you where born premature ?
Thanks I'm intrigued to find out
Written by
Lil_tinx66
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18 Replies
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I have heard that theory too! Doesn't apply in my case though, I was 2 weeks late (waiting for half term I reckon so I could have my birthday off!)
I think for me it has a lot more to do with the ridiculous number of people on my mum's side of the family who have or had asthma, eczema or both. Can't escape the genes (well, my mum has so far though).
I was actually overdue by 2 weeks! My son was 6 weeks premature. It may be that premature babies' lungs havent fully developed which makes them more susceptible to respitatory problems.
Knowing that my son was going to be delivered at least 6 weeks early I had some sort of steroid injections to encourage the development of his lungs. He still got asthma, but I've always assumed he'd inherited my asthma - also asthma on my husband's side.
Sorry, but I was a few days overdue. I always thought the asthma was something that ran in the family rather than being as a result of premature birth. It's an interesting thought, though.
Born 3 months early and intubated as problems with breathing at time of birth so could be a potential asthma link.
i was born three months early, but had stopped developping a month before that. i was ventilated and intubated for my first 11 months, and on O2 till i was 5. the ventilator saved my life, but also severely damaged my lungs, causing bronchopulmonary dysplasia (scar tissue inside the lungs). in those days there was no surfactant, and i was the first baby in Europe to receive massive iv steroids as a newborn. my ""asthma"" suddenly deterioated when i was 17, this is common in many people with BPD. ""asthma"" because it is treated as such, but is either BPD or Wegener's granulomatosis in the lungs (or both?)...
In case Anyones wondering I asked as ive had asthma since I was very young not officially diagnosed until six but I have no family history of anything no parents smoke but I was prem !
In fact I tried to make an entrance into the world at just 24 weeks they stopped me from escaping early and thought I'd go to full term but I surprised everyone at 35 weeks hehe xx
I was bang on time and my brother who has exactly the same late onset asthma sysmptoms as me was 10 days overdue! We are both exercise induced, diagonosed in 40s and 20s respectively, on blue and purple inhalers, he has had occasional hospital admittance and nebulisers and is worse than me.
Karen
PS found out very recently that my mum has same symptoms (amongst lots of other health issues) but was never officially diagnosed or treated as very mild. So its in the genes for us.
I was nearly a month premature. I am also a twin.
Gill
I was born 1 month early, never had asthma untill 14 (just had 2 moggy kittens) & I regularly stayed at my grandparents in the summer & they smoked up to 40 a day, even toh they went outside everything I owned stunk of it when I got home.
I was one week early so not really sure that counts as premature given all the technology and stuff around! I'm a twin and my sister was the smaller one (but we were both an ok weight) so everyone fussed around her when we were born and was concerned about her. Unfortunately I was either born with a chest infection, or caught one soon after birth and no one noticed for 24 hours so I think it's more likely to be that that did it for me! Didn't help that I was discharged from special care early because my parents refused to allow me and my sister to be split up and her cot was needed (this was a few days later when she could have gone home) so I got moved out too! That's the way my parents have told the story anyway, not entirely sure how truthful it is...
It does make sense though that a prem baby could grow up to have asthma when you think about how much a baby develops in the third trimester. It would be interesting to see if people who are born prem have narrower bronchi to start with.
Im not asthmatic but was 5 weeks prem.
My eldest is asthmatic but a term baby.
My youngest has difficult asthma, allergies and eczema and was 7 weeks prem and ventilated and needed surfactant as his lungs were under developed (my waters broke at 30 weeks and despite steroid shots) so he has always had problems. He had a microlaryngoscopy at 1 to check his airways as they were floppier as a baby. He has been through a hell of a lot.
I was born at 32 weeks, and had bronchitis by the time i was about 3 weeks old i think, so a potential link, though respiritory infections more likely link
I was 6 weeks early, my sister 3 weeks early we both have asthma. My astma is worse than hers but don't know if there's a link.
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