Published in the journal JAMA Network Open. Here is a link to the article.
Regenstrief Institute authors: Arthur H. Owora, PhD, MPH
This case-control study investigated whether asthma should be routinely considered a comorbidity in children with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), a condition caused by mutations in genes affecting motile cilia. Researchers analyzed data from two large electronic health record databases—Indiana Network for Patient Care Research (INPCR) and TriNetX—focusing on children 18 years or younger with both bronchiectasis and situs inversus totalis (B-SIT), a combination highly indicative of PCD. In INPCR, all 9 children with B-SIT had asthma, compared to 1 of 27 controls (P < .001). In TriNetX, 84 of 115 children with B-SIT had asthma, compared to 12 of 115 controls (P = 2.2 × 10⁻¹⁶), with an adjusted odds ratio of 22.3. The study concludes that asthma is significantly more common in children with likely PCD. This supports prior research suggesting antigen stasis in PCD may contribute to asthma-like inflammation. The findings suggest children with PCD should be evaluated for asthma, and some children with asthma may warrant evaluation for underlying PCD features.
Author Affiliations
