gms | German Medical Science

MAINZ//2011: 56. GMDS-Jahrestagung und 6. DGEpi-Jahrestagung

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie e. V.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie e. V.

26. - 29.09.2011 in Mainz

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FADS gene cluster modulates the effect of breastfeeding on asthma

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  • Marie Standl - Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg
  • Stefanie Sausenthaler - Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg
  • Eva Lattka - Unit for Molecular Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Centre for Environmental Health, Neuherberg
  • Sibylle Koletzko - Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital, München
  • Carl-Peter Bauer - Technical University of Munich, Department of Pediatrics, München
  • H.-Erich Wichmann - Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg
  • Andrea von Berg - Marien-Hospital Wesel, Department of Pediatrics, Wesel
  • Dietrich Berdel - Marien-Hospital Wesel, Department of Pediatrics, Wesel
  • Ursula Krämer - IUF, Leibniz Institut für Umweltmedizinische Forschung at the University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf
  • Beate Schaaf - Medical Practice for Pediatrics, Bad Honnef
  • Irina Lehmann - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Department for Environmental Immunology, Leipzig
  • Olf Herbarth - University of Leipzig, Faculty of Medicine, Environmental Medicine and Hygiene, Leipzig
  • Norman Klopp - Unit for Molecular Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Centre for Environmental Health, Neuherberg
  • Berthold Koletzko - Division of Metabolic Diseases and Nutritional Medicine, Dr von Hauner Children's Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, München
  • Joachim Heinrich - Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg

Mainz//2011. 56. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie (gmds), 6. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie (DGEpi). Mainz, 26.-29.09.2011. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2011. Doc11gmds139

doi: 10.3205/11gmds139, urn:nbn:de:0183-11gmds1398

Published: September 20, 2011

© 2011 Standl et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Background: The protective effect of breastfeeding on the development of asthma has been widely recognized, even if not all results have been consistent. We hypothesised this could be caused by individual genetic differences in the fatty acid metabolism determined by the FADS1 FADS2 gene cluster in the offspring. Therefore we evaluated the influence of the FADS1 FADS2 gene cluster polymorphisms on the association between breastfeeding and asthma.

Methods: The analysis was based on data (N=2336) from two German prospective birth cohort studies. Information on asthma and breastfeeding during the first six months was collected using questionnaires completed by the parents. Logistic regression modelling, adjusted for gender, maternal education level and study centre, was used to analyse the association between exclusive breastfeeding and ever having asthma stratified by genotype.

Results: In the stratified analyses, breastfeeding for three or four months after birth had a protective effect for hetero- and homozygous carriers of the minor allele (aOR between 0.39 (95%-CI: 0.18-0.82) and 0.43 (95%-CI: 0.21-0.90)). Interaction terms of breastfeeding with SNPs were significant and ranged from -1.11 (p-value: 0.019) to -1.18 (0.014). Moreover, hetero- and homozygous carriers of the minor allele which were exclusively breastfed for five or six months after birth had a reduced risk for asthma (0.35 (0.20-0.62) to 0.52 (0.30-0.88)) in the stratified analyses. For individuals carrying the major allele, breastfeeding showed no significant effect on the development of asthma.

Conclusions: The association between exclusive breastfeeding and asthma is modified by the genetic variants of FADS genotypes in children.