Authors’ reply
- Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Dr J Henderson, ALSPAC, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; a.j.henderson{at}bris.ac.uk
We thank Dr Ventura and colleagues for their interest in our paper and for drawing attention to the phenomenon of non-atopic persistent asthma (NAPA). We agree that non-atopic airway inflammation is a potential mechanism for modification of early life influences on airway development. In our paper we highlighted the strong positive association of persistent wheeze with atopy1 but, as shown in table 2, the prevalence of atopy in this group was 42%. …
