New research finds that children who contract pneumonia during their first 3 years of life seem to face an increased risk of developing asthma.

“This supports the idea that the roots of chronic illness in adult life may be the events that occur in early life,” said study co-author Dr. Fernando Martinez, a professor of pediatrics and director of the Arizona Respiratory Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

“Early life is a time when organs are developing very fast, and can be affected and altered by outside stimuli or negative events, which may then carry into adulthood,” he said.

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