Higher parental education was associated with better asthma control.

Aim: Inhaled corticosteroids have resulted in the improved control of asthma and a reduced need for hospitalisation. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of uncontrolled asthma and factors that affect asthma control.

Methods: The data came from a longitudinal cohort study of children.

Eating fish and farm life reduce allergic rhinitis at the age of twelve.

Background: The prevalence of allergic rhinitis has increased, but the cause of this rise is partly unknown. Our aim was to analyse the prevalence, risk factors, and protective factors for allergic rhinitis in 12-year-old Swedish children.

Methods: Data were collected from a prospective, longitudinal cohort study of children born in western Sweden in 2003.

Methyl-cellulose powder for prevention and management of nasal symptoms.

HPMC-p, an inert micronized powder form of hydroxy-propyl-methyl-cellulose, when insufflated nasally, provides a natural barrier against pollen allergens and noxious agents. This overview assesses the efficacy and safety of this patented powder product and delivery system without an analogue among the cellulose derivatives. Areas covered: Twenty-six studies with HPMC-p were critically appraised to obtain an updated characteristic of the product.

The allergic march comprises the coexistence of related patterns of allergic disease not just the progressive development of one disease.

Aim: This study explored the development and comorbidity of allergic diseases by analysing the relationship between allergic manifestations in infancy and at the age of 8.

Methods: We included 5654 children born in Sweden in 2003 in a longitudinal study. Parents answered postal questionnaires when the children were six months and one, four-and-a-half and eight years of age.

Allergic rhinoconjunctivitis continued to increase in Swedish children up to 2007, but asthma and eczema levelled off from 1991.

Aim: This study investigated whether allergies among schoolchildren increased in Sweden between 1979 and 2007 and whether the geographical differences observed in previous studies remained.

Methods: We collected questionnaire data on asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (ARC) and eczema in children aged seven to eight years from Mölndal, Gothenburg, in south-western Sweden and Kiruna in northern Sweden in 1979 (n = 4682), 1991 (n = 2481) and 2007 (n = 1029). The same regions and questions were used in all three studies, and extra questions on food allergy or intolerance were added in 2007.

A persistently high body mass index increases the risk of atopic asthma at school age.

Aim: Being overweight has been associated with the risk of developing childhood asthma, but studies have produced conflicting results, for example with regard to possible links to allergic diseases. This study aimed to explore the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and school-age asthma.

Methods: Data were obtained from a prospective, longitudinal study of 5044 children born in western Sweden.

Antibiotics in the first week of life is a risk factor for allergic rhinitis at school age.

Background: Heredity as well as external factors influences the development of allergic rhinitis. The aim of this study was to analyse early risk factors and protective factors for allergic rhinitis at school age.

Methods: This is a prospective, longitudinal study of children born in western Sweden in 2003 where 50% of the birth cohort was randomly selected.

A nasally applied cellulose powder in seasonal allergic rhinitis in adults with grass pollen allergy: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study.

Background: A nasally applied cellulose powder is increasingly used in many countries as a remedy for allergic rhinitis. In 2009, a 4-week study in birch pollen-allergic children showed a reduction in nasal symptoms. The best effect occurred on days with lower pollen counts.

Toxin-producing Clostridium difficile strains as long-term gut colonizers in healthy infants.

Clostridium difficile is a colonizer of the human gut, and toxin-producing strains may cause diarrhea if the infectious burden is heavy. Infants are more frequently colonized than adults, but they rarely develop C. difficile disease.

Pacifier cleaning practices and risk of allergy development.

Objective: Immune stimulation through exposure to commensal microbes may protect against allergy development. Oral microbes may be transferred from parents to infants via pacifiers. We investigated whether pacifier cleaning practices affected the risk of allergy development.

Early fish introduction and neonatal antibiotics affect the risk of asthma into school age.

Background: The early introduction of fish has been reported to reduce the risk of wheezing disorder in early childhood, while broad-spectrum antibiotics in the first week have been associated with an increased risk. However, it is uncertain whether the effects remain into school age. The aim was to explore these risk factors for doctor-diagnosed asthma at 8 years.

The heterogeneity of asthma phenotypes in children and young adults.

Objective. Genetic heterogeneity and risk factor distribution was analyzed in two previously proposed asthma phenotypes. Method.

Adhesin and superantigen genes and the capacity of Staphylococcus aureus to colonize the infantile gut.

Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogen and a skin commensal that is today also common in the infant gut flora. We examine the role of S. aureus virulence factors for gut colonization.

Preschool wheeze - impact of early fish introduction and neonatal antibiotics.

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse the risk factors for preschool wheeze with special reference to the early introduction of fish and early antibiotic treatment. To avoid reverse causation regarding antibiotics, we focused on the influence of broad-spectrum antibiotics given during the first week of life.

Methods: Data were obtained from a prospective, longitudinal study of a cohort of children born in western Sweden where 50% of the birth cohort was randomly selected.

A nasally applied cellulose powder in seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) in children and adolescents; reduction of symptoms and relation to pollen load.

Background: A nasally applied cellulose powder is increasingly used in many countries as a remedy for allergic rhinitis. The absence of side effects makes the treatment particularly attractive in children. The efficacy in pollen allergic children, however, is not studied, nor is the relation to various pollen exposures.

Early protective and risk factors for allergic rhinitis at age 4½ yr.

Allergic heredity plays a major role in the development of allergic rhinitis. In addition the introduction of food may influence the risk of subsequent allergic disease. The aim of this study was to analyse early risk factors and protective factors for allergic rhinitis at preschool age.

Fish intake of Swedish male adolescents is a predictor of cognitive performance.

Aim: Fish intake is reported to positively influence cognitive performance in infants and the elderly. In a longitudinal cohort study, we evaluated how fish consumption related to later cognitive performance in healthy young male adolescents.

Methods: In 2000, all 15-year-olds (n = 18 158; 9260 males) in the western region of Sweden were requested to complete an extensive questionnaire with items on diseases, fish consumption and socioeconomic status.

Neonatal antibiotic treatment is a risk factor for early wheezing.

Objective: The use of antibiotics in infancy and subsequent changes in the intestinal bacterial flora have been discussed as risk factors for the development of asthma. However, it has been difficult to exclude the possibility that antibiotics have been given in early episodes of wheezing. As a result, there has been a risk of reverse causation.

Reduced diversity in the early fecal microbiota of infants with atopic eczema.

Background: It might be that early intestinal colonization by bacteria in westernized infants fails to give rise to sufficient immune stimulation to support maturation of regulatory immune mechanisms.

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to characterize the very early infantile microbiota by using a culture-independent approach and to relate the colonization pattern to development of atopic eczema in the first 18 months of life.

Methods: Fecal samples were collected from 35 infants at 1 week of age.

Gut microbiota and development of atopic eczema in 3 European birth cohorts.

Background: Stimulation of the immune system by gut microbes might prevent allergy development.

Objective: The present study examined the hypothesis that sensitization to food allergens and atopic eczema are influenced by the infantile intestinal colonization pattern.

Methods: Infants were recruited perinatally in Göteborg (n = 116), London (n = 108), and Rome (n = 100).

Nasal symptoms are associated with school performance in adolescents.

Children with asthma and allergy have higher school absence rates than others, but little is known about their school performance. In a study of 9538 adolescents, nasal symptoms severe enough to affect daily activity were associated with low-grade sum, particularly in adolescents using anti-allergy medication.