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Risky late effects Antibiotics for children really only in an emergency
Scientists have often warned that taking antibiotics in childhood can have health consequences. New insights are now available from Finland. There, a study showed that taking certain childhood antibiotics could potentially increase the risk of obesity and asthma.
Antibiotics in childhood with long-term health effects
In the past, health experts frequently warned that children receive antibiotics too often. Meanwhile, there have apparently been improvements here. For example, a survey a few weeks ago showed that such drugs are increasingly critically evaluated by parents. And that's just as well. Because of the administration of antibiotics in childhood, long-term negative consequences for the health threaten. Some of these medicines increase the risk of obesity and asthma. This is indicated by a new study from Finland. Already last year, researchers from the US reported that antibiotics can lead to obesity in children.
Antibiotics for children should be an absolute exception. Image: Konstantin Yuganov - fotolia Bacterial community in the intestine is changed
As the Finnish scientists report in the journal "Nature Communications", some antibiotics have long-lasting changes in the diversity of the bacterial community in the gut, which probably affects the development of a healthy immune system and a healthy metabolism. According to a news agency dpa, the researchers observed the long-term consequences, especially after taking antibiotics from the group of macrolides. Scientists now demand that their findings be considered in the description of macrolide antibiotics and that the drugs should only be used if there are no alternatives.
Penicillin with less impact
To reach their conclusions, Katri Korpela's team from the University of Helsinki examined the bacterial composition in stool samples from a total of 142 children between two and seven years of age. According to the information, all children had been given antibiotics several times in the past, in most cases for the treatment of respiratory infections. In a comparison with children of the same age, who had received at least in the past two years, no antibiotics and previously no more than one antibiotic treatment per year, it was found that especially a treatment with macrolide antibiotics significantly reduced the diversity of the intestinal bacteria and changed the metabolism. Thus, some types of bacteria were found less frequently after treatment, others more frequently. By taking penicillin, the bacterial community in the intestine was changed much less.
Resistant to certain antibiotics
Furthermore, the scientists found that many germs had resistance to macrolide antibiotics. Although much of the change disappeared one year after ingestion, biodiversity remained reduced for up to two years. "If a child repeatedly gets antibiotics in their early years, the microbiome may not have enough time to fully recover," Katri Korpela said in a statement from her university. The children of the studied group had received on average 1.8 antibiotic therapies per year.
Increased risk of asthma and obesity
Last but not least, the team showed that giving antibiotics early can affect their long-term health: children who had been given at least two macrolide antibiotics at least twice in the first two years of life had a higher risk of developing asthma or a precursor to it. In addition, these children were more likely to be overweight. The researchers also found that the composition of the intestinal bacteria of children with asthma or obesity was also different from that of the control group. As the scientists reported, even a temporary impairment of the intestinal bacterial community at an early age could have long-term effects on the metabolism and the immune system. Their study was confirmed by results from experiments in mice in which an antibiotic treatment also led to metabolic diseases and obesity, presumably due to changes in the intestinal bacterial community.
Larger studies needed
Philipp Henneke from the Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency at the University Hospital of Freiburg said that the proven molecular changes of the bacteria and the changes in the composition of the intestinal microbiome are highly plausible. According to dpa, he said: "This confirms the effects we know from experimental studies. It has to be assumed that these strong and long-term effects also have health effects. "However, larger studies are needed to confirm this. In the Finnish study group, the number of children with asthma or obesity is too low to directly deduce a causal relationship to the administration of macrolide antibiotics.
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