Table 1.

DIT and increased risk of human disease∗.

Disease, disorder, or susceptibility state	Suggested early-life immune-modulating risk factor	Reference(s)
Acute myeloid leukemia	Benzene	[173]
Allergic sensitization	Polychlorinated biphenyls	[170]
Asthma	Maternal paracetamol use	[155]
Atherosclerosis	Maternal hypercholesterolemia	[174]
Atopic dermatitis	Maternal smoking	[175]
Allergic rhinitis	Antibiotics in infancy	[176]
Autism spectrum disorders	Maternal immune activation	[177]
Bipolar disorder	Gestational influenza	[178]
Cardiovascular disease	Childhood abuse	[179]
Celiac disease	Elective cesarean delivery	[180]
Crohn's disease	Maternal smoking	[181]
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	Smoke from biomass fuels	[182]
Depression	Childhood trauma	[183]
Endometriosis	Environmental tobacco smoke	[184]
Hypertension	Pesticides (DDT)	[185]
Insulin resistance	Maternal diet	[186]
Lack of protection against diphtheria and tetanus following childhood vaccination	Perfluorinated pollutants	[171]
Multiple sclerosis	Vitamin D insufficiency	[187]
Myalgic encephalomyelitis (Chronic fatigue syndrome)	Childhood trauma	[188, 189]
Narcolepsy (specific subpopulation)	H1N1 flu vaccination	[190, 191]
Obesity/overweight risk	Cesarean delivery	[192]
Otitis media	Maternal smoking/ETS	[193–195]
Parkinson's disease	Pesticides	[164, 196]
Preeclampsia	Traffic-related air pollution	[197]
Psoriasis	Environmental tobacco smoke	[198]
Respiratory infections	Polychlorinated biphenyls	[199, 200]
Rheumatoid arthritis	Maternal smoking	[201]
Schizophrenia	Prenatal immune activation	[202, 203]
Sudden infant death syndrome	Maternal smoking and alcohol consumption	[133]
Type 1 diabetes	Lack of or short-duration breastfeeding	[204]
Ulcerative colitis	Urban living	[205]

^*This table includes both noncommunicable and communicable diseases and conditions. Environmental risk factors are provided to illustrate an example and are not intended to be an exhaustive listing. The focus is on human studies and data.