P04 - Twenty year follow up: children prone to atopy and control children

Results At the age 20 years, atopic eczema was equally common despite of atopic heredity. Allergic rhinitis was significantly (p=0.004) more common in children prone to atopy. Atopic eczema at age 2, 7 and 18 years flagged atopic eczema lasting until young adulthood, and predicted later rhino conjunctivitis (60%) and asthma at age 20y (28%). Timothy grass (65%) and birch pollen (55%) sensitization were the two common responses to findings in skin prick tests. Heredity was the most important cause for later allergic disease. At age 20 years, howeve, the male gender was the most important factor for birch pollen allergy connected with atopic eczema (p=0.01) or allergic rhino conjunctivitis (p=0.04).