BACKGROUND: The ADRB2 gene encodes the β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR). This study aimed to determine the association between the C79G polymorphism of the ADRB2 gene and its association with pediatric asthma using a meta-analysis of the published data.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Review of publications up to May 2018 was from the PubMed, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and WanFang databases. The odds ratio (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were used in evaluating the strength of the reported association between the C79G polymorphism of the ADRB2 gene and pediatric asthma.

RESULTS: There were 18 controlled studies that included 2,982 pediatric cases of asthma and 2,651 controls. Expression of the C79G polymorphism of the ADRB2 gene was significantly associated with risk of pediatric asthma associated with the C or G allele with comparison of the co-dominant model (GG vs. CC: OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.55–0.88) and the recessive model (GG vs. CC+CG: OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.53–0.81). Subgroup analysis by ethnicity showed a significantly reduced risk of pediatric asthma in Asian patients for comparison of the co-dominant model (GG vs. CC: OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.45–0.78), the recessive model (GG vs. CC+CG: OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.45–0.76), and the allelic model (G vs. C: OR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.79–0.99).

CONCLUSIONS: The C79G polymorphism of the ADRB2 gene encoding β2-AR was associated with a reduced risk for the development of pediatric asthma, particularly in the Asian population.

Keywords: Asthma, Pediatrics, Polymorphism, Genetic, Adolescent, Alleles, Asians, Child, ethnicity, Gene Frequency, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genotype, Odds Ratio, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Receptors, Adrenergic, beta-2, Risk Factors, Whites