Sex Differences in Baseline Risk Factors for Asthma Between Early Adolescence and Young Adulthood.

Background: Several studies have shown sex differences in the prevalence of asthma and an association with age. The aim of the present study was to prospectively investigate the development of asthma, wheeze, rhinitis, and allergic symptoms in adolescence and adulthood. We also aimed to determine whether sex modifies the association between baseline risk factors and incidence of asthma in early adulthood.

Different baseline characteristics are associated with incident wheeze in female and male adolescents.

Aim: To investigate the independent relationships between baseline characteristics and incident wheeze in adolescents, with particular regard to gender.

Methods: Adolescents (N = 959), aged 12-15 years, answered a standardised respiratory questionnaire and underwent height and weight measurements at baseline. Four years later, 96% of the subjects completed a similar questionnaire.

Concurrence of elevated FeNO and airway hyperresponsiveness in nonasthmatic adolescents.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate airway responsiveness and eosinophil and neutrophil inflammatory markers in clinically confirmed nonasthmatic adolescents with elevated fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), a marker of type-2 inflammation in the airways.

Methodology: A total of 959 subjects from a general population, aged 12 to 15 years, answered a standardised questionnaire and underwent FeNO measurements at a screening visit at school. Adolescents without asthma, who had elevated FeNO (FeNO  > 15 ppb) (n = 19), and control subjects, with low FeNO (FeNO  < 5 ppb) and without reported symptoms of asthma or allergy (n = 28), participated in a follow-up study where FeNO , airway responsiveness to methacholine (PD ), blood eosinophil counts, and serum neutrophil lipocalin (HNL) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) levels were measured.

Circulating mast cell progenitors correlate with reduced lung function in allergic asthma.

Background: Studies using mouse models have revealed that mast cell progenitors are recruited from the blood circulation to the lung during acute allergic airway inflammation. The discovery of a corresponding human mast cell progenitor population in the blood has enabled to study the relation of circulating mast cell progenitors in clinical settings.

Objectives: To explore the possible association between the frequency of mast cell progenitors in the blood circulation and allergic asthma, we assessed the relation of this recently identified cell population with asthma outcomes and inflammatory mediators in allergic asthmatic patients and controls.