Childhood Atopy Predicts Asthma Severity in Adulthood
Many problems in childhood that many people would consider “minor” or “normal” such as allergies and constipation, concern me a great deal with regards to long term health. This research supports this concern and strengthens the need to truly address allergies in children, not just medicate them, to maintain health in adulthood. This would mean addressing healthy intestinal flora, identifying and removing food allergies, avoidance of food preservatives and colors and adherence to healthy eating habits.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2000;162:2177-2181 Atopy in children with asthma appears to increase the risk of having more severe disease later in life, Australian researchers report in the December issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Rory Wolfe, of Monash Medical School, Prahran, Victoria, and colleagues sought to examine a number of relationships including whether “the presence of allergic features in childhood is a predictor of the subsequent course of asthma.” The researchers followed a cohort of 378 asthmatic children from the age of 7 to 35 years at intervals of 7 years. Among items recorded were the presence of eczema or hay fever and sensitivity to rye grass or house dust mite. Having an atopic condition in childhood was associated with a higher risk of severe asthma in later life. For eczema, the odds ratio increased to 1.66, for hay fever, it was 1.39. A positive skin test result increased the odds ratio of severe asthma to 2.25. Conversely, greater severity of asthma in childhood was related to increased odds of having eczema and hay fever later in life. These findings, the researchers conclude, may “improve the clinician’s ability to predict probable long-term outcomes in children with asthmatic symptoms.”