Living with cats does not worsen asthma in children, study shows

Cats are often singled out as a potential trigger for asthma, the most common chronic disease and one of the main causes of hospitalisation among children.

The Global Asthma Network has estimated that its global prevalence is 9.1% for children and 11% for adolescents, but this percentage varies greatly between countries, regions and environments.

Known risk factors for developing asthma include exposure to air pollution and smoking, childhood viral infections, obesity and pre-existing allergies like eczema or hay fever.

Patients anecdotally self-report that exposure to animal dander appears to trigger asthma attacks.

However, clinical and epidemiological data on this is so far contradictory, coming mostly from small studies on subgroups that aren’t necessarily representative of the wider population.

Now, researchers have demonstrated in Frontiers in Allergy that sharing a home with cats may not worsen the outcomes of children with asthma and allergies.