Early Antibiotic Usage Linked to Childhood Health Issues

Antibiotics administered to children younger than 2 are linked to conditions from allergies to obesity, as per the retrospective case study by Mayo Clinic researchers, in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Children receiving various antibiotic treatments were more likely to have multiple illnesses or conditions later in childhood depending on age, type of medication, dose and number of doses. There also were some differences between boys and girls.

Conditions linked to use of antibiotics includes asthma, allergic rhinitis, weight issues and obesity, food allergies, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, celiac disease, and atopic dermatitis.

Antibiotics may transiently affect the microbiome, the collection of microbes in the body, this may have long-term health consequences.

"We want to emphasize that this study shows association ? not causation ? of these conditions," says Nathan LeBrasseur, Ph.D., a researcher at Mayo Clinic's Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging and the study's senior author. "These findings offer the opportunity to target future research to determine more reliable and safer approaches to timing, dosing and types of antibiotics for children in this age group."

The ultimate goal is to provide practical guidelines for physicians on the safest way to use antibiotics early in life.

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Source-Medindia