Exploring the development and heterogeneity of childhood diseases including asthma, allergy and obesity in the Childhood Asthma Prevention Study

Abstract

This thesis presents a body of work exploring the development and heterogeneous nature of common childhood diseases: asthma, allergic disease and obesity. Statistical models, which increase in complexity from a linear regression model to finite mixture models including a growth mixture model, latent class analysis and a latent transition analysis, were used to examine risk factors and define latent subgroups of these childhood diseases. This thesis utilises data from the first 11.5 years of the Childhood Asthma Prevention Study (CAPS), a birth cohort recruited on the basis of having a first degree relative with asthma. Five research papers form the body of this thesis. In conclusion, this thesis has used data from an established birth cohort in innovative ways, by applying simple and complex statistical models, to provide new insights into the development and heterogeneity of asthma, allergy and obesity. The results of this research have contributed to the literature on asthma, allergy and obesity by identifying specific subgroups within each of these childhood diseases that may benefit from increased monitoring and a targeted intervention or treatment. This work demonstrates the potential for finite mixture models to be applied to other complex heterogeneous diseases.