Having a large number of colds between the ages of 0 and 8 years old has no effect on the probability of having asthma and allergies at the age of 21.
In his doctoral thesis, Walter Balemans also concludes that lung function, allergies in the blood, and allergic inflammation of the airways among young people are not consistently affected by respiratory infections in childhood. The results provide no evidence for the hygiene hypothesis, which argues that the huge increase in asthma and allergies over the past decades has to do with smaller family size, better housing, and greater affluence.
Balemans will receive his PhD from Utrecht University on October 27. The title of his thesis is, “The role of childhood respiratory tract infections on the development of asthma and atopic disease.”