Allergic multimorbidity of asthma, rhinitis and eczema over 20 years in the German birth cohort MAS

Media type: E-Article
Title: Allergic multimorbidity of asthma, rhinitis and eczema over 20 years in the German birth cohort MAS
Contributor: Gough, Hannah; Grabenhenrich, Linus; Reich, Andreas; Eckers, Nora; Nitsche, Oliver; Schramm, Dirk; Beschorner, John; Hoffmann, Ute; Schuster, Antje; Bauer, Carl‐Peter; Forster, Johannes; Zepp, Fred; Lee, Young‐Ae; Bergmann, Renate L.; Bergmann, Karl E.; Wahn, Ulrich; Lau, Susanne; Keil, Thomas
imprint: Wiley, 2015
Published in: Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
Language: English
DOI: 10.1111/pai.12410
ISSN: 0905-6157; 1399-3038
Origination:
Footnote:
Description: <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>The occurrence of allergic multimorbidity (coexistence of asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema) has not been evaluated longitudinally from early childhood up to adulthood in a population‐based study sample. We aimed to determine the prevalence of allergic multimorbidity up to age 20 stratified by parental allergies and sex/gender using extensive prospective follow‐up data from two decades of a birth cohort study.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>In 1990, we recruited 1314 healthy newborns from 6 maternity wards across Germany for the population‐based <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">MAS</jats:styled-content> birth cohort study. The sample was purposely risk‐enriched by increasing the proportion of children at high allergy risk (i.e. at least 2 allergic family members among parents and siblings) from 19% in the source population to 38% in the final sample. The remaining 62% of all <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">MAS</jats:styled-content> children had a low or no allergy risk. Symptoms, medication and doctor's diagnoses of allergic diseases have been assessed using standardized questionnaires including validated <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">ISAAC</jats:styled-content> questions in 19 follow‐up assessments up to age 20. Allergic multimorbidity at each time point was defined as the coexistence of at least 2 of the following diseases in one participant: asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Response at age 20 was 72% (n = 942) of all recruited participants. At age 20, 18.5% (95% <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CI</jats:styled-content>, 15.0–22.5%) of all participants with allergic parents had 2 or 3 concurrent allergies as compared to only 6.3% (95% <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CI</jats:styled-content>, 4.3–9.0%) of those with non‐allergic parents. At this age, allergic multimorbidity was similar in women and men (12.7% (95% <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CI</jats:styled-content>, 9.7–16.2%) vs. 11.6% (95% <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CI</jats:styled-content>, 8.9–14.8%)), whereas single allergic diseases were slightly more common in women than men (24.2% (95% <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CI</jats:styled-content>, 20.2–28.5%) vs. 20.1% (95% <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CI</jats:styled-content>, 16.6–24.0%)). Asthma occurred more frequently with coexisting allergic rhinitis and/or eczema than as a single entity from pre‐puberty to adulthood.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Having parents with allergies is not only a strong predictor to develop any allergy, but it strongly increases the risk of developing allergic multimorbidity. In males and females alike, coexisting allergies were increasingly common throughout adolescence up to adulthood. Particularly asthma occurred in both sexes more frequently with coexisting allergies than as a single entity.</jats:p></jats:sec>

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