Respiratory infections in the first year of life in children at risk of developing atopy.

Abstract

Ninety-two infants, each of whom had one parent with asthma or hay fever, were followed up from birth to the age of 1 year and 72 to the age of three years. During the first year of life respiratory symptoms, eczema, and respiratory viral infections were all reported. Within the first year 24 babies developed eczema; 28 had a wheal of 1 mm in diameter or more on prick skin testing with cutaneous allergens. Forty-three children had one or both of these characteristics and formed an atopic subgroup; by the same criteria, 49 children were non-atopic.The number of respiratory infections in the two groups was not significantly different; similar viruses were isolated from both groups. These viruses were associated with both upper and lower respiratory tract infections. Wheezing was a clinical feature in 12 children during lower respiratory tract infections. Of these babies six were atopic in the first year of life. Of the six non-atopic babies, one had eczema in the second year and five children developed raised total serum IgE values within the 3 years.

Lung function, airway responsiveness, and respiratory symptoms before and after bronchiolitis.

“…A number of follow up studies have identified an association between a family history of asthma and/or atopy and an episode of bronchiolitis.4 5 8 Other investigators, however, have not observed this association,7 10-13 15 17 20 22 and in particular, a prospective longitudinal study of a group of infants believed to be at high risk for lower respiratory illness, defined by family history, observed that no infant had an episode of bronchiolitis during the first year of life. 22 Our study was unable to show significant differences in family history between those that did and did not get bronchiolitis during the first year of life, however, it should be noted that our study population is biased towards those with an 'at risk' history due to the increased willingness of members of the general population with histories of asthma and allergic disease to participate in the study in comparison with those with no such histories. Of interest is that those with a diagnosis of bronchiolitis during the second year of life, had an increased family history of asthma 4n primary relatives.…”

“…(Arch Dis Child 1995; 72: [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Keywords: bronchiolitis, respiratory function, histamine inhalation challenge, lower respiratory symptoms.…”

The relationship between early fever and allergic sensitization at age 6 to 7 years☆

“…Studies examining the association between allergic sensitization and specific illnesses, such as respiratory infections, measles, and hepatitis A, have produced conflicting results, with some studies showing a protective relationship 4-6 and others not. [7][8][9][10] Two recent cross-sectional studies found that having frequent febrile illnesses before age 1 year was associated with a lower odds of allergic sensitization later in life, suggesting that the effect of early infections might depend on both their frequency and their capacity to elicit a systemic response. 11,12 These studies relied on parental recall over many years rather than documented temperatures to ascertain fever.…”

Epidemiology of Childhood Asthma

“…Wheezing that persists is probably more likely in children who are atopic and have other allergic diseases [16,[21][22][23][24][25]. In contrast, infants with a family history of allergic disease or a personal history of allergic symptoms do not show an increased predisposition to wheezing within the first year of life [26][27][28]. Data from the Children's Respiratory Study in Tuscon, Arizona, which was the first prospective study initiated at birth and with measurements of airway function, serum IgE levels, allergic sensitisation, and wheezing illness collected through early childhood, confirmed this association in that, whilst children who wheezed in the first 3 years of life and persisted inwheezing to age 6 were more likely than never wheezers to have mothers with a history of asthma and to have elevated serum IgE levels at birth and age 6, children with transient wheezing before age 3 only did not differ from never wheezers in either of these respects [15].…”