There are conflicting reports on the effects of atopy on lung function. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of house mite (HM) atopy on lung function in subsamples of 12-year-old symptomatic and nonsymptomatic preadolescent children taken from the community sample. An additional objective of this study was to identify possible environmental determinants of HM skin reaction. We ...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To investigate the predictive value of atopy, smoking, and living in a farm environment in the development of chronic bronchitis. DESIGN This was a cross sectional and longitudinal study. SETTING Postal surveys carried out in Finland in 1975 and 1981. PARTICIPANTS The study was part of the Finnish twin cohort study, which included adult twin pairs born in Finland before 19...

Asthma is a manifestation of bronchial hyperreactivity (BHR) and forms part of the spectrum of atopic disease. Some pedigree studies of atopy have suggested linkage with the high-affinity IgE receptor (FcE RI1) gene on chromosome 11q13, but others find no linkage. The molecular genetics of asthma and BHR have not been studied in the general population. We examined the genetic linkage of the Fce...

BACKGROUND The relationship between exposure to animals and allergic respiratory diseases in childhood is controversial, and there is little information about how exposure to pets affects the respiratory health of Chinese children, who have lower rates of asthma. OBJECTIVE To study the association between exposure to pets and doctor-diagnosed asthma and asthma-related symptoms in Chinese chil...

BACKGROUND The increasing prevalence of allergic diseases and atopy is affected by sex, age and lifestyle factors. Obesity and excess weight are reported to be potential risk factors for atopy and specifically for asthma symptoms in children and adults. OBJECTIVE To assess the relation between body mass index (BMI) and allergic diseases in patients of both genders, as well as association of B...

Atopy is generally considered to be caused by interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Recently, an association of a C to T transition in the promoter region of the CD14 gene on chromosome 5q31.1 and atopic phenotypes was reported in a population study of school children in the United States. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of the C allele of the CD14/-1...

There is a dearth of information on the association of atopy with schizophrenia. The few available studies used population-based registers to classify the atopy status of the patients but this strategy is not reliable. This study measured seropositivity with a multiallergen screen of allergen specific IgE antibodies in schizophrenia patients versus healthy controls. A subset of 66 schizophrenia...

The impact of single exposures on asthma development is better understood than the effect of multiple exposures. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of combined early exposure to dog allergen (Can-f1) plus indoor nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) on asthma and bronchial hyperreactivity (BHR) in a high-risk birth cohort. We also aimed to assess...

BACKGROUND The World Health Organization recommends high-dose vitamin A supplementation (VAS) for children above six months of age in low-income countries. VAS has been associated with up-regulation of the Th2 response. We aimed to determine if VAS is associated with atopy in childhood. METHODS Infants in Guinea-Bissau were randomly allocated VAS or placebo, either at six and nine months of a...

The clinical interpretation and reproducibility of atopy patch tests was studied in 23 selected young adult patients with atopic dermatitis and 25 healthy controls using standard inhalant allergens. Non-invasive measurements were used for objective assessment of test reactions and the participants were retested after 6 weeks. Ten of 19 (53%) evaluable patients with atopic dermatitis had at leas...