Asthma: wheezing and allergies in childhood predict adult disease

The presence of wheezing and allergies in children are predictive of asthma in adulthood, suggests a study published in "Chest".

The development and prognosis of asthma have been extensively studied in populations at risk. However, the evolution and risk factors for this disease in the general population remain poorly understood.

Celeste Porsbjerg of Bispebjerg University Hospital of Copenhagen (Denmark), and colleagues followed 291 volunteers aged between 7 and 17 years, 12 years, to determine the predictors of onset and remission of asthma . Participants completed a questionnaire about their history of asthma, allergies or general factors of quality of life at the start of the study in 1987 and 1998. Respiratory and allergy tests were also conducted at both stages.

At the beginning of the study, asthma concerned 4% of volunteers against 11.7% at the end of it, in 1998. During the monitoring period, approximately 19.6% of the volunteers experienced at least once asthma symptoms.

Bronchial hyperresponsiveness to histamine, wheezing, allergic sensitivity to dust mites and dermatitis, an inflammatory disease of the skin, are, according to their results, the predictive factors for the development of asthma at age young adulthood. The presence of these factors multiplied by three to five times the risk of subsequent asthma in young volunteers.

The simultaneous presence of more than one of these risk factors was associated with a high probability (61.5%) of developing asthma during the study follow-up. In contrast, among the volunteers with any of these risk factors, only 4% developed asthma during the follow-up period.

The combined presence of symptoms of bronchial hyperresponsiveness to histamine and allergic symptoms in children should be recognized as an important prognostic marker for the development of asthma in adults and prompt treatment with immunotherapy, the authors suggest .