Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 162, Number 5, November 2000, 1833-1837

Familial Aggregation of Bronchodilator Response
A Community-Based Study

TIANHUA NIU, JOHN J. ROGUS, CHANGZHONG CHEN, BINYAN WANG, JIANHUA YANG, ZHIAN FANG, SCOTT T. WEISS, and XIPING XU

Program of Population Genetics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts; Institute for Biomedical Research, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China; and Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

We investigated familial aggregation of bronchodilator response (BDR) among 4,946 subjects selected from 1,161 index families with asthma in a rural community in China. Each family unit consisted of both parents and their first and subsequent offspring, aged 8-20. Raw BDR measurements, defined as the percentage change in FEV₁ after 180 µg of albuterol, were adjusted to account for sex, age, height, weight, education, smoking, asthma, wheeze, and allergy status. Using these adjusted BDR values, we found significant correlation for father-first offspring pairs, mother-first offspring pairs, mother-subsequent offspring pairs, and first offspring-subsequent offspring pairs. The overall magnitude of the correlation coefficient (0.088-0.165) suggests a modest degree of familial clustering. The largest odds ratio was seen for subsequent offspring who had mothers and first offspring with adjusted BDR values above the median: 3.10 (95% CI: 1.85-5.20) in these index families with asthma. Thus, our data support a significant familial aggregation of BDR in this Chinese population, which points to a role of genetic factors in BDR.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. C. Teerlink, M. J. Hegewald, and L. A. Cannon-Albright A Genealogical Assessment of Heritable Predisposition to Asthma Mortality Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., November 1, 2007; 176(9): 865 - 870. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. Hizawa, H. Makita, Y. Nasuhara, T. Betsuyaku, Y. Itoh, K. Nagai, M. Hasegawa, and M. Nishimura {beta}2-Adrenergic Receptor Genetic Polymorphisms and Short-term Bronchodilator Responses in Patients With COPD Chest, November 1, 2007; 132(5): 1485 - 1492. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. P Hersh, M. E Soto-Quiros, L. Avila, S. L Lake, C. Liang, E. Fournier, M. Spesny, J. S Sylvia, R. Lazarus, T. Hudson, et al. Genome-wide linkage analysis of pulmonary function in families of children with asthma in Costa Rica Thorax, March 1, 2007; 62(3): 224 - 230. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. J. Palmer, J. C. Celedon, S. T. Weiss, B. Wang, Z. Fang, and X. Xu Ascaris lumbricoides Infection Is Associated with Increased Risk of Childhood Asthma and Atopy in Rural China Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., June 1, 2002; 165(11): 1489 - 1493. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. J. TOBIN Asthma, Airway Biology, and Allergic Rhinitis in AJRCCM 2000 Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., November 1, 2001; 164(9): 1559 - 1580. [Full Text] [PDF]