New Insights Into Allergy-Related Disorders in Children

Allergies and asthma are a continuing health problem in most developed countries, but just how do these ailments develop over the course of a childhood? In a population-based study designed to help answer this question, researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) found that 40 per cent -- or two of five -- of nearly 5,000 two-year-olds had at least one reported allergy-related disorder. The most common symptom was wheezing, which was reported in 26 per cent of all children in the study.

The findings are among the first to illustrate the scope of allergy-related problems in such a young group of children, and the challenges that these problems pose for both families and for public health systems overall. "If you think about something like moderate atopic eczema, which can involve quite a few doctor's visits, and a lot of work on the part of parents, it is quite a big deal," she says. "This can be quite a burden." The study appears in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.

Researchers found that boys were more likely than girls to have an allergy-related disorder. The study is a part of a larger effort called PACT (Prevention of Allergy among Children in Trondheim), which began in 2000 to try to better understand how allergy-related symptoms develop in children and to investigate the effectiveness of risk-factor intervention, including increasing omega-3 fatty acid intake, reducing parental smoking and indoor dampness. A control group of 14 000 children, from which the current study is drawn, was established to track fluctuations in risk factor levels and to provide comparison data. A second group of roughly 3000 children was recruited for a proactive intervention effort. The program started during pregnancy and continued until the children reached the age of 2. The 390 children who were randomly selected for skin prick allergy testing will be followed up when they are 6 years old.