ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: For the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of both asthma and obesity. Obesity may be associated with increasing childhood asthma and atopy. So, we performed this study to know the effects of body mass on bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) and atopy in childhood asthma. METHODS: The subjects were, 340 children aged 6-15 years with asthma, visited the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic. There, their heights and, weights were measured and they underwent, pulmonary function tests (PFT), BHR to methacholine and skin prick tests. After determining body mass index (BMI), they were divided into four groups by BMI percentile curve based on gender and age (underweight or =95.1th percentile). Atopy, allergen sensitization, BHR, respiratory symptoms, PFT were compared between each group. RESULTS: In all subjects, there were 70 (20.6%) and 73 (21.5%) cases in the overweight and obese groups, respectively. Increasing BMI was significantly associated with a higher prevalence of snoring,(P=0.004) wheezing in the perceding three months (P=0.002) and BHR- positive,(P=0.003) but not atopy.(P=0.075) Among the groups classified by BMI percentile, there were significant differences in FEV1 and FEV1/FVC.(P=0.027, P=0.033) Being overweight and/or, obese were significant risk factor for BHR, though only among females (OR 5.1; 95% CI 1.6-16.5, 4.9; 1.8-13.4) not male (OR 1.1; 95% CI 0.5-2.1, OR 1.7; 95% CI 0.7-2.0). CONCLUSION: Among girls, a higher BMI might be a risk factor for BHR. Higher BMI is not associated with atopy on either boys or girls.
Subject(s)
Child , Female , Humans , Male , Ambulatory Care Facilities , Asthma , Body Mass Index , Bronchial Hyperreactivity , Hypersensitivity , Methacholine Chloride , Obesity , Overweight , Prevalence , Respiratory Function Tests , Respiratory Sounds , Risk Factors , Skin , Weights and MeasuresABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to research whether measurement of cow's milk specific IgE on the newborn would be helpful in the diagnosis of cow's milk allergy. We tried to find out the relation between cow's milk specific IgE and other allergy diseases by following up cases. METHODS: We reviewed clinical features of 87 episodes in infants less than 4 weeks old who were positive in cow's milk specific IgE test. For the study group, history taking, physical examinations, elimination and cow's milk specific IgE tests were carried out. We investigated the connection among cow' milk specific IgE, allergic disease and family history in 40 of 87 patients we could follow up on. RESULTS: The mean age of the study group was 17.2+/-5.4 days. The subjects were classified in four groups according into allergens : 87 milk allergy positive patients, 24 casein positive, 38 alpha-lactoalbumin positive, and 75 beta-lactoglobulin positive. The number of patients who had follow-ups for more than 6 months to was 40(45.9 percent). The patients whose parents had allergic disease numberred 10(25 percent). Fiften patients had allergic diseases, 4 had asthma and 11 atopic dermatitis. According to the follow-up study, there is a significant relation between casein positive patients and allergic disease. But there is no statistical and significant relation between cow's milk specific IgE and a family history of allergic disease. CONCLUSION: For the newborn babies, elimination tests and cow's milk specific IgE tests can be useful in the diagnosis of IgE-mediated or mixed milk allergies.