Asthma and lower airway diseaseChildhood eczema and rhinitis predict atopic but not nonatopic adult asthma: A prospective cohort study over 4 decades
Section snippets
Study population and data collection
This analysis is based on participants who attended the recent laboratory study of the TAHS. Details of the methods and some results from this study have been reported elsewhere.20, 21 In brief, TAHS commenced in 1968, when 8583 Tasmanian children, then 7 years of age, were surveyed for respiratory problems and then underwent clinical examination and lung function measurements. Parents completed a questionnaire about their child’s illnesses and other exposures. The cohort comprised 98.9% of
Results
Of 1389 laboratory study participants, 1383 (99.6%) had data available on atopy status. One thousand three hundred twenty (95.4%) had complete data on childhood allergic diseases and adult asthma and atopy and were included in the analyses.
In total, 380 (27.5%) laboratory substudy participants had current asthma at age 44 years, with 263 (69.2%) also found to be atopic. The proportion of participants with childhood asthma was highest among those with remitted asthma at age 44 years
Discussion
Our study is the first to examine at the population level the relative contribution of eczema and rhinitis, individually and in combination, with respect to persistent childhood asthma and new-onset asthma later in life, especially with regard to the differential effects on atopic and nonatopic phenotypes of asthma. We found that childhood eczema, especially in association with childhood rhinitis, is strongly associated with current atopic asthma in middle age. Additionally, childhood eczema
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Funding for this project was obtained from the Australian National Health & Medical Research Council, the Clifford Craig Foundation, and Asthma Foundations in Tasmania, Victoria, and Queensland and the University of Melbourne. P.E.M. is an Australian Postgraduate Award scholar, K.J.A. is a Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellow, and L.G., M.C.M., A.J.L., and S.C.D. hold National Health & Medical Research Council Awards.
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: N. Osborne receives research support from the Australian Egg Corporation. M. J. Abramson was part of the Landmark Symposium for GlaxoSmithKline and receives research support from Reckitts Benckiser. E. H. Walters receives research support from the National Health and Research Council and the Royal Hobart Hospital Research Foundation. The rest of the authors have declared that they have no conflict of interest.