Respiratory health consequences of living close to livestock farms

How does living close to livestock farms affect the risk of asthma in children? Previous studies do not provide a clear answer to this. Some studies indicate that living on a farm is protective and reduces the risk of asthma. Others support that exposure to air pollutants (e.g. ammonia, primary particles etc.) from livestock farming increases the risk of asthma. The purpose of this study is to get closer to the answer by combining register data from the healthcare system with data on livestock farming in a long spanning cohort study. 

The project is a collaboration between the National Institute of Public Health at the University of Southern Denmark, the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at University of Copenhagen and the Division of Infection, Immunity and Respiratory Medicine, University of Manchester, UK. 

In the project, we look at children aged 0-6 years in the period from 2000 to 2021. We only consider children with a residential address outside cities with 10,000 or fewer inhabitants to avoid a potential influence of city air pollutants. We follow the children from birth and until 6 years of age with respect to first occurrence of asthma as registered in the National Patient or Prescription Register. With respect to exposure, we focus on the livestock species pigs, cattle, poultry and mink and look at the number of animals within 500 meters from the children’s residential address based on registrations from the Central Husbandry Register. Results from the project intent to improve the future prevention of asthma in children.

Research questions

What is the effect of living close to livestock farms on the risk of asthma in children?

Partners

  • Kirstine Wodschow, Anette Kjær Ersbøll and Stine Kloster, National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark.
  • Jørgen Vestbo, Division of Infection, Immunity and Respiratory Medicine, University of Manchester, UK.
  • Alice Puk Skarbye, Maya Katrin Gussmann, Liza Rosenbaum Nielsen, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen 

Funding

The project is funded by Karen Elise Jensens Fond. 
Total budget: 1.5 million DKK
UCPH part of the budget: 238,000 DKK