Asthma risk factors

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Philip Marcus, M.D., M.P.H. [2]

Risk Factors

Asthma is usually diagnosed in childhood. The risk factors for asthma include:

• Personal or family history of asthma or atopy
• Triggers such as smoke, dust, pollen, emotional stress and consumption of milk, peanuts, or eggs
• Premature birth or low birth weight
• Viral respiratory infection in early childhood
• Maternal smoking
• Being male, for asthma in prepubertal children
• Being female, for persistence of asthma into adulthood.

There is a reduced occurrence of asthma in people who were breast-fed as babies.