Family, neighborhood and psychosocial environmental factors and their associations with asthma in Australia: a systematic review and Meta-analysis.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies
PubMed 34905415 · doi:10.1080/02770903.2021.2018707
What was done
Authors searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus for Australian studies published between 2000 and 2020 evaluating associations between family, neighborhood, and psychosocial environmental exposures and asthma symptom exacerbation or hospital visits. A quality-effect meta-analysis was performed to calculate pooled odds ratios for quantifiable exposures.
What was found
From 4,799 initial records, 46 studies were included in the systematic review and 28 in the meta-analysis. Qualitative synthesis identified links between asthma symptoms and psychosocial factors, including low socioeconomic status, maternal depression, mental stress, ethnicity, and discrimination. Meta-analysis showed significant associations with asthma symptoms for environmental tobacco smoke (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.19–2.38), synthetic bedding (OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.48–2.47), and gas heaters (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.12–1.76).
Why it matters
This review synthesizes country-specific evidence identifying key modifiable domestic and psychosocial risk factors that contribute to asthma morbidity in Australia.
Limits
The included primary studies exhibited substantial heterogeneity. Synthesis is based entirely on observational data, precluding causal determination, and several psychosocial variables could not be quantitatively pooled in meta-analysis.
Cited by
- supports Psychosocial stress increases the severity of asthma symptoms and lung inflammation.