It is children with atopic dermatitis who develop asthma more frequently if the mother smokes2

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0091-6749(05)80177-0Get rights and content

We elicited symptoms of atopic dermatitis (AD) and of asthma from 620 children who were themselves nonsmokers, were aged 1 to 17 years, and had been consecutively referred to an allergy clinic. A histamine bronchial-challenge test revealed bronchial hyperresponsiveness in 95% of the children who had a history of wheezing or asthma and who could perform the test reliably, indicating that most of them did indeed have asthma. Children with a history of AD were much more likely to have asthma if the mother was a smoker than if she was a nonsmoker (79% versus 52%; p=0.001). Similarly, if AD was found on examination, the percentages with asthma were 74% and 44%, respectively. By contrast, the children with no history of AD had asthma as frequently if the mother was a nonsmoker (42%) as when she was a smoker (40%). In children with AD, the prevalence of asthma was greater in both boys and girls when the mother was a smoker, but only in boys when the father was a smoker. Multiple logistic regression confirmed that the risk of asthma was greatly increased when the child had both AD and a mother who smoked.

References (28)

  • MurrayAB et al.

    Passive smoking and the seasonal difference in severity of asthma in children

    Chest

    (1988)
  • MurrayAB et al.

    Airway responsiveness to histamine as a test of overall severity of asthma in children

    J Allergy Clin Immunol

    (1981)
  • JonesDT et al.

    Childhood asthma in New Zealand

    Br J Dis Chest

    (1987)
  • WeissST et al.

    Persistent wheeze: its relation to respiratory illness, cigarette smoking, and level of pulmonary function in a population sample of children

    Am Rev Respir Dis

    (1980)
  • HasselbladV et al.

    Indoor environmental determinants of lung function in children

    Am Rev Respir Dis

    (1981)
  • VedalS et al.

    Risk factors for childhood respiratory disease: analysis of pulmonary function

    Am Rev Respir Dis

    (1984)
  • LetwitterFI et al.

    Genetic and environmental determinants of level of pulmonary function

    Am J Epidemiol

    (1984)
  • WareJH et al.

    Passive smoking, gas cooking, and respiratory health of children living in six cities

    Am Rev Respir Dis

    (1984)
  • BurchfielCM et al.

    Passive smoking in childhood respiratory conditions and pulmonary function in Tecumseh, Michigan

    Am Rev Respir Dis

    (1986)
  • MurrayAB et al.

    Passive smoking by asthmatics: its greater effect on boys than on girls, and on older than younger children

    Pediatrics

    (1989)
  • HanifinJM et al.

    Diagnostic features of atopic dermatitis

    Acta Derm Venereol

    (1980)
  • McNicolKN et al.

    Spectrum of asthma in childhood. I. Clinical and physiological components

    Br Med J

    (1973)
  • KellyWJW et al.

    Childhood asthma in adult life: a further study at 28 years of age

    Br Med J

    (1987)
  • FerrisBG

    Epidemiology standardization project

    Am Rev Respir Dis

    (1978)
  • Cited by (69)

    • Prevalence of asthma in patients with atopic dermatitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

      2021, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
      Citation Excerpt :

      However, based on data from a Canadian center, 19% of patients with severe asthma reported AD, but on closer examination, it was found that 38% had concomitant AD,30 indicating that AD may be overlooked in patients with asthma. We found only a few studies that contained data on asthma disease severity in AD, and most31-34 showed that the forced expiratory volume in 1 second typically indicated mild or moderate asthma. High asthma severity in patients with AD may represent an argument for selecting treatment agents that target both diseases.

    • Ontogeny of the allergic inflammatory response

      2005, Immunology and Allergy Clinics of North America
    • Food allergy: What can be done to prevent progression to asthma?

      2002, Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    2

    Supported in part by a grant from the British Columbia Lung Association.

    1

    From the Department of Pediatrics and Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

    View full text