%0 Journal Article
%T Early eczema and the risk of childhood asthma: a prospective, population-based study
%A Marit Saunes
%A Torbj£¿rn £¿ien
%A Christian K Dotterud
%A P£¿l R Romundstad
%A Ola Storr£¿
%A Turid L Holmen
%A Roar Johnsen
%J BMC Pediatrics
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2431-12-168
%X Questionnaires assessing various environmental exposures and health variables were administered at 2 years of age. An identical health questionnaire was completed at 6 years of age. The clinical investigation of a random subsample ascertained eczema diagnoses, and missing data were handled by multiple imputation analyses.The estimate for the association between eczema at 2 years and current asthma at 6 years was OR=1.80 (95% CI 1.10-2.96). Four of ten children with eczema at 6 years had the onset of eczema after the age of 2 years, but the co-existence of different allergy-related diseases at 6 years was higher among those with the onset of eczema before 2 years of age.Although most cases of eczema in the general population were mild to moderate, early eczema was associated with an increased risk of developing childhood asthma. These findings support the hypothesis of an atopic march in the general population.The Prevention of Allergy among Children in Trondheim study has been identified as ISRCTN28090297 in the international Current Controlled Trials databaseThe atopic march is a term used to describe the relationship between allergy-related diseases, starting with food allergy and eczema in early childhood, and the subsequent development of asthma and rhino-conjunctivitis. An association between eczema and asthma in childhood has been documented in several studies, and severe eczema is associated with an increased tendency to produce immunoglobulin E (IgE) and developing asthma [1-7]. The nature of the relationship between eczema and asthma has, however, been debated. Although these diseases share some genetic and environmental risk factors, it has been argued that eczema and asthma are unrelated and that the progression of eczema to asthma is due to the co-manifestation of eczema and wheezing early in life [3,6]. On the other hand, plausible biological pathways have been described, with eczema as the first step in a progressive atopic march leading to asthma and/
%K Eczema
%K Asthma
%K Child
%K Preschool
%K Cohort
%K Questionnaires
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2431/12/168