Mechanisms of asthma and allergic inflammationRespiratory illnesses in early life and asthma and atopy in childhood
Section snippets
Study cohort
Five hundred five infants with a history of asthma or allergies in at least one parent were recruited between September 1994 and August 1996. Details of the screening process and eligibility criteria have been described in detail previously.19 Briefly, eligibility criteria included living within the limits of route 128, which surrounds the city of Boston; maternal age of 18 years or older; and history of allergies, asthma, or hay fever in either parent. Children were excluded if they were
Results
The characteristics of the 498 study subjects have been described in detail elsewhere.22 Of the 498 study participants, 440 (88.4%) were followed up to the age of 7 years, and 271 (54.4%) had an assessment of allergic sensitization at school age. Children who dropped out of the study before age 7 years were more likely to be of nonwhite ethnicity and to be from a family with an average household income of less than $30,000 per year (Table I). There were no significant differences in the
Discussion
Among children at risk for asthma and atopy, we found an inverse association between 2 physician-diagnosed illnesses (croup and recurrent ear infections) and atopy at school age.
Most studies of the relation between ear infections (eg, otitis media) and atopy have been cross-sectional.30, 31, 32 Tainio et al33 found a positive association between recurrent otitis media (≥5 episodes) in the first year of life and atopy at age 2 years; however, atopy was a combined end point consisting of asthma,
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Cited by (0)
The Epidemiology of Home Allergens and Asthma Study is supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant AIEHS35786 to Dr Gold. Dr Celedón is supported by NIH grants HL04370 and HL073373. Dr Ramsey is supported by the Department of Medicine of the University of Manitoba, a Canada sponsorship award, and NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Training grant 5 T32 HL07427.
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: The authors have declared that they have no conflict of interest.