Asthma Medication Use and Risk of Birth Defects: National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997-2011.

Background: Evidence regarding associations between maternal asthma medication use and birth defects is mixed.

Objective: Estimate associations between asthma medciation use and 52 birth defects using National Birth Defects Prevention Study data from 1997 to 2011.

Methods: We compared self-reported maternal asthma medication use for 28,481 birth defect cases and 10,894 nonmalformed controls.

Maternal occupation and the risk of major birth defects: a follow-up analysis from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study.

This study further examined the association between selected maternal occupations and a variety of birth defects identified from prior analysis and explored the effect of work hours and number of jobs held and potential interaction between folic acid and occupation. Data from a population-based, multi-center case-control study was used. Analyses included 45 major defects and specific sub-occupations under five occupational groups: healthcare workers, cleaners, scientists, teachers and personal service workers.

Maternal bronchodilator use and the risk of orofacial clefts.

Background: Few epidemiological studies have explored the relationship between orofacial clefts and bronchodilators. We assessed whether mothers who used bronchodilators during early pregnancy were at an increased risk of delivering infants with orofacial clefts.

Methods: We used National Birth Defects Prevention Study case-control data from mothers of 2711 infants with orofacial clefts and 6482 mothers of live born infants without birth defects, delivered during 1997 through 2005.

Racial/ethnic differences in asthma-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations among children with wheeze in Buffalo, New York.

This study examined whether racial/ethnic minority (i.e., Black, Hispanic) children with wheeze have a higher proportion of urgent care use (i.

Self-reported home environmental risk factors for childhood asthma: a cross-sectional study of children in Buffalo, New York.

We present prevalence estimates of indoor and outdoor environmental risk factors for asthma from a cross-sectional study of children 1 to 17 years of age living in Buffalo, New York. A child's primary caretaker completed a questionnaire about the household's demographics, lifestyle habits, housing, indoor and outdoor environment, and the child's activity patterns, family history of asthma, asthma symptoms and treatment, and medical care access. Significant environmental risk factors were presence of smokers in the household, humidifier or vaporizer use, chemical odors indoors, frequent truck traffic, and chemical odors outdoors.

Childhood asthma hospitalization and residential exposure to state route traffic.

This study investigated whether pediatric hospitalization for asthma was related to living near a road with heavy traffic. In this case-control study, cases (N=417) consisted of white children aged 0-14 years who were admitted for asthma and who resided in Erie County, New York, excluding the city of Buffalo. Controls (N=461) were children in the same age range admitted during the same time period for nonrespiratory diseases.