Respiratory symptoms, asthma, exercise test spirometry, and atopy in schoolchildren from a Lima shanty town
M E Pennya, S Muradb, S S Madrida, T S Herreraa, A Piñeiroc, D E Caceresc, C F Lanataa
a Instituto de
Investigación Nutricional, Lima, Perú, b Department of Public Health Sciences,
Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine and Dentistry,
London, UK, c Clinica Ricardo
Palma, Lima, Perú
Correspondence to: Dr M E Penny mpenny@iin.sld.pe
Received 8 August 2000; Returned to authors 21 October 2000; Revised version received 2 April 2001; Accepted for publication 23 April 2001
BACKGROUND
Little is
known about the associations between symptoms of asthma, pulmonary
function tests, and atopy in developing countries. While asthma in
children is often associated with atopy, some studies of wheezing
illness have found little or no association, leading to suggestions
that there are subgroups of wheezing illness. The ISAAC study recently
reported that the prevalence of reported asthma symptoms in Lima, Peru
was among the highest in the world, but did not report on the atopic
status of the subjects.
METHODSA cross
sectional survey was conducted of children aged 8-10 years who had
previously participated in a cohort study of respiratory and diarrhoeal
illnesses in infancy. Questionnaires were administered asking about
respiratory symptoms and asthma diagnoses, pulmonary function tests
were performed before and after exercise on a treadmill, and atopy was
determined from skin prick tests and specific serum IgE levels.
RESULTSA total of 793 children participated in the survey. The prevalence of asthma related
symptoms in the last 12 months was 23.2%, but only 3.8% of children
reported a recent asthma attack. The mean differences in pretest
percentage predicted forced expiratory volume in one second
(FEV1) were 8.1% (95% CI 2.4 to 13.8) between children
who did and did not report an asthma attack in the last 12 months, and
5.3% (95% CI 2.8 to 7.9) in children who did and did not report
respiratory symptoms. The corresponding differences in mean percentage
fall in FEV1 after exercise were 3.1% (95% CI -1 to 7.1)
and 5.1% (95% CI 3.4 to 6.8). Recent asthma or respiratory symptoms
were not associated with atopy in this population (odds ratios 1.29 (95% CI 0.56 to 2.97) and 0.91 (95% CI 0.61 to 1.37), respectively).
CONCLUSIONSMost
asthma in these children was unrecognised and mild. Asthma and asthma
symptoms in this population do not seem to be related to atopy.
Keywords: asthma; atopy; schoolchildren; Peru
© 2001 by Thorax
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Mallol, J, Castro-Rodriguez, J A, Cortez, E, Aguirre, V, Aguilar, P, Barrueto, L
(2008). Heightened bronchial hyperresponsiveness in the absence of heightened atopy in children with current wheezing and low income status. Thorax
63: 167-171
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Weinmayr, G., Weiland, S. K., Bjorksten, B., Brunekreef, B., Buchele, G., Cookson, W. O. C., Garcia-Marcos, L., Gotua, M., Gratziou, C., van Hage, M., von Mutius, E., Riikjarv, M.-A., Rzehak, P., Stein, R. T., Strachan, D. P., Tsanakas, J., Wickens, K., Wong, G. W., and the ISAAC Phase Two Study Group,
(2007). Atopic Sensitization and the International Variation of Asthma Symptom Prevalence in Children. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.
176: 565-574
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Pearce, N., Ait-Khaled, N., Beasley, R., Mallol, J., Keil, U., Mitchell, E., Robertson, C., and the ISAAC Phase Three Study Group,
(2007). Worldwide trends in the prevalence of asthma symptoms: phase III of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC). Thorax
62: 758-766
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Pereira, M. U., Sly, P. D., Pitrez, P. M., Jones, M. H., Escouto, D., Dias, A. C. O., Weiland, S. K., Stein, R. T.
(2007). Nonatopic asthma is associated with helminth infections and bronchiolitis in poor children. Eur Respir J
29: 1154-1160
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Hunninghake, G. M., Weiss, S. T., Celedon, J. C.
(2006). Asthma in Hispanics. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.
173: 143-163
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Cooper, P. J., Chico, M. E., Bland, M., Griffin, G. E., Nutman, T. B.
(2003). Allergic Symptoms, Atopy, and Geohelminth Infections in a Rural Area of Ecuador. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.
168: 313-317
[Abstract] [Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
