Rationale: Severe early-life respiratory illnesses, particularly those caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human rhinovirus (HRV), are strongly associated with the development of asthma in children. Puerto Rican children in particular have a strikingly high asthma burden, but prior studies of the potential associations between early-life respiratory illnesses and asthma in Puerto Rican and other minority populations have been limited. Objectives: We sought to determine whether early-life respiratory illness was associated with asthma in Puerto Rican children relative to other minority children. Methods: Using a logistic regression analysis, we examined the association between early-life respiratory illnesses (report of upper respiratory infection (URI), pneumonia, bronchitis, and bronchiolitis/RSV) within the first two years of life and physician-diagnosed asthma after the age of two in a large cohort of minority children. Measurements and Main Results: Early-life respiratory illnesses were associated with greater asthma risk in Puerto Ricans relative to other racial/ethnic minority populations. Specifically, in Puerto Ricans, the odds was 6.15 (95% CI: 4.21-9.05) if the child reported at least one of the following respiratory illness: URI, pneumonia, bronchitis or bronchiolitis. The odds were also higher in Puerto Ricans when considering these conditions separately. Conclusions: We observe population-specific associations between early-life respiratory illnesses and asthma, which was especially significant in Puerto Ricans. Taken together with the known high burden of RSV in Puerto Rico, our results may help explain the high burden of asthma in Puerto Ricans.

中文翻译：

---

来自三个少数民族的儿童呼吸道感染后哮喘的危险性差异

理由：严重的早期呼吸道疾病，尤其是由呼吸道合胞病毒（RSV）和人鼻病毒（HRV）引起的疾病，与儿童哮喘的发生密切相关。特别是波多黎各儿童的哮喘病负担特别高，但是先前对波多黎各人和其他少数族裔的早期呼吸系统疾病与哮喘之间潜在联系的研究有限。目的：我们试图确定波多黎各儿童相对于其他少数民族儿童的早期呼吸道疾病是否与哮喘相关。方法：使用Logistic回归分析，我们检查了早期呼吸系统疾病（上呼吸道感染（URI），肺炎，支气管炎，且在一大批少数儿童中，在出生后的头两年内出现细支气管炎和RSV），两岁后医生诊断为哮喘。测量和主要结果：与其他种族/族裔少数群体相比，波多黎各人的早期呼吸系统疾病与更高的哮喘风险相关。具体而言，在波多黎各人中，如果孩子报告至少以下一种呼吸系统疾病：URI，肺炎，支气管炎或毛细支气管炎，则赔率是6.15（95％CI：4.21-9.05）。当分别考虑这些条件时，波多黎各人的几率也更高。结论：我们观察到早期呼吸系统疾病与哮喘之间的特定人群关联，这在波多黎各人中尤为明显。加上波多黎各众所周知的RSV高负担，