Is Enhanced Fetal Growth a Risk Factor for the Development of Atopy or Asthma?

Abstract

These findings raise the hypothesis that factors responsible for fetal growth may also lead to programming of the developing respiratory or immune systems, predisposing to the subsequent development of asthma and/or atopy. This hypothesis may explain, in part, the increasing prevalence of asthma and atopy over recent decades, which has occurred concurrently with secular trends for improved fetomaternal health, as measured by anthropometric measurements at birth.