Research in the US has revealed that children with asthma may face memory issues, marking the first study to establish a link between the two. It also showed that the earlier a child develops asthma, the more it impacts their memory. The lead researcher emphasized the importance of recognizing asthma as a potential cause of cognitive issues in children.
A study published in ‘Jama Network Open’ found that asthma may impact children’s episodic memory, which is the ability to recall details of everyday events. Children with asthma performed worse on memory tests compared to those without the condition.
The research, involving 473 US children with early-onset asthma, highlights the potential cognitive challenges associated with asthma.
Lead author Prof. Simona Ghetti emphasized the growing awareness that chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes, and heart disease could increase the risk of cognitive difficulties in children.
“We need to understand the factors that might exacerbate or protect against the risks.”
The researchers did not assess how exactly asthma appeared to cause memory deficits. But potential explanations include asthma leading to prolonged inflammation and recurrent asthma attacks disrupting the supply of oxygen to the brain.
An estimated 260 million people worldwide, including 5.4 million in the UK, have asthma.
Nicholas Christopher-Hayes, the study’s first author, said: “Childhood is a period of rapid improvement in memory and, more generally, cognition. In children with asthma that improvement may be slower.”
The impact of asthma could even be so great that the memory loss it induces could lead to those who developed it in childhood having a higher risk of cognitive problems in later life, he added.
“Asthma might set children on a trajectory that could increase their risk to later develop something more serious like dementia as adults,” he said.
Nick Hopkinson, a respiratory medicine professor and medical director at Asthma + Lung UK, commented on the study's findings that children with asthma perform worse on memory tests.
While the exact link is unclear, he suggested that factors like early life stress and deprivation could worsen both asthma and memory.
He emphasized the importance of addressing these factors through government and societal efforts to reduce childhood deprivation.
Hopkinson also pointed out that asthma symptoms or attacks could disrupt learning, or that inflammation from asthma might affect other parts of the body, potentially impacting memory.
He stressed the need for better asthma prevention and management to ensure children’s conditions are well-controlled.
Source: The Guardian
Bd-pratidin English/ Afia
