BACKGROUND Maternal geohelminth infections during pregnancy may protect against allergy development in childhood. OBJECTIVE We sought to investigate the effect of maternal geohelminths on the development of eczema, wheeze, and atopy during the first 3 years of life. METHODS A cohort of 2404 neonates was followed to 3 years of age in a rural district in coastal Ecuador. Data on wheeze and ec...

BACKGROUND Little is known about the epidemiology of rhinitis, particularly the perennial and non-allergic forms. The aim of this study was to compare the symptoms, atopic state, and medical history of individuals with seasonal and perennial rhinitis. DESIGN Of 7702 adults aged 16-65 years registered with a London general practice, 2969 (30%) were screened by postal questionnaire. Samples of ...

SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND Allergic rhinitis (AR) exhibits a prevalence of approx. 20% in Germany and causes enormous costs in the health care system. Specific immunotherapy (SIT) is considered to be the only potentially causal therapy for AR and mainly administered by two routes, subcutaneous (SCIT) and sublinguale (SLIT). SIT promises a reduction of symptoms and the need for medication in patients...

Risk factors for asthma in young adults. J. Sunyer, J.M. Antó, M. Kogevinas, M.A. Barceló, J.B. Soriano, A. Tobías, N. Muniozguren, J. Martínez-Moratalla, F. Payo, J.A. Maldonado, the Spanish Group of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey. ERS Journals Ltd 1997. ABSTRACT: We assessed the association of asthma prevalence in young adults with susceptibility factors and environmental e...

PURPOSE Allergen-specific immunotherapy is the only currently available treatment to modify the natural history of allergic rhinitis (AR). If patients are polysensitized, it is difficult to identify the allergen causing the allergic symptoms. We evaluated the effectiveness of immunotherapy against house dust mites (HDMs) in AR patients polysensitized to both HDMs and seasonal allergens. METHO...

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy and safety of a pollen blocker crème for prophylaxis of symptoms in patients with seasonal or perennial allergic rhinitis. DESIGN Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study conducted from November 2001 through September 2002 in 2 outpatient centers in Germany and 1 in Russia. Ninety-one patients aged 18 to 55 years with at least a 2-year his...

BACKGROUND There is a lack of objective measures of the clinical efficacy of allergen immunotherapy which relies on patients' perception about the effect of this treatment. We studied whether the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide is affected by multiple allergen immunotherapy in polysensitized adult subjects with allergic rhinitis. We also looked for associations between exhaled nitric oxide and...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE In areas with a high number of allergens and high allergen concentrations, it is essential to identify the main causes of allergy, especially in pediatric patients. This study was conducted in allergic patients aged 14 or less to identify sensitization profiles during an initial phase, and to then evaluate changes in these profiles after 3 years of follow-up. This artic...

Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) is the only curative way that can change the immunologic response to allergens and thus can modify the natural progression of allergic diseases. There are some important criteria which contributes significantly on efficacy of AIT, such as the allergen extract used for treatment, the dose and protocol, patient selection in addition to the severity and contro...

BACKGROUND Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a societal burden and cause of morbidity in Canada; however, the prevalence of allergic sensitization in Canadian CRS patients has remained poorly characterized. OBJECTIVE In this study, we used skin prick test (SPT) and specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) and G (sIgG) titers to regionally relevant allergen sources in order to determine whether allergic...