Background: Little is known about the determinants of airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) among children with asthma in Hispanic America.
Methods: We examined the relations among selected familial and environmental factors, markers of allergy, spirometric measures of lung function, and AHR in a cross-sectional study of 403 Costa Rican children with asthma between the ages of 6 and 14 years. Study participants completed a protocol that included questionnaires, spirometry, measurements of serum total and allergen-specific IgE, peripheral blood eosinophil count, and body mass index, and the assessment of airway responsiveness to methacholine (ie, a methacholine challenge test [MCT]). AHR to MCT was defined as the provocative dose of methacholine causing a 20% fall in FEV(1). Linear regression was used for the univariate and multivariate analyses.
Results: Of the 403 asthmatic children who underwent an MCT, 350 (86.8%) had AHR to methacholine. In a multivariate analysis, paternal asthma (p = 0.004), parental report of mold/mildew in the child's home (p = 0.04), FEV(1)/FVC ratio (p < 0.0001), and a positive IgE response to Der p 1 (p = 0.008) were significantly associated with AHR among Costa Rican children with asthma.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that paternal asthma and environmental exposure to mold/mildew are strong determinants of AHR in Costa Rican children with asthma. FEV(1)/FVC ratio may be a useful measure of AHR (a marker of asthma severity) among Costa Ricans and other Hispanic Americans for whom reference values for FEV(1) are not currently available.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1378/chest.07-2130 | DOI Listing |
Front Child Adolesc Psychiatry
September 2024
Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
Objectives: The prevalence of many psychiatric symptoms, including anxiety and depression, is higher in individuals born extremely preterm (EP) than in term-born individuals during childhood and adolescence. In this prospective study of adolescents born EP, we examined associations between early-life risk factors (prenatal maternal health conditions, socioeconomic and social factors) and anxiety and depression at 15 years of age.
Methods: We included 682 participants (53.
Arch Dis Child
January 2025
Department of Child Life and Health, University of Edinburgh Institute for Regeneration and Repair, Edinburgh, UK.
Objective: To obtain priority consensus for outcome measures of oral corticosteroid treatment of preschool wheeze that represent stakeholder groups.
Design: (1) A systematic review to identify a set of outcome measures; (2) an international survey for healthcare professionals (HCPs) and a nominal group meeting with parents; (3) a final consensus nominal group meeting with key HCPs (trial investigators and paediatric emergency medicine clinicians) and the same parent group.
Main Outcome Measures: Consensus priority of treatment outcome measures, outcome minimal clinically important differences (MCIDs) and level of concerns about adverse effects.
J Allergy Clin Immunol
January 2025
Department of Public Health Sciences, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI; Center for Bioinformatics, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI. Electronic address:
Background: Nocturnal cough affects approximately 1 in 3 children, can negatively impact child health, and is often attributable to asthma. The association of the gut microbiome with nocturnal cough has not been investigated.
Objective: To investigate the association between early-life gut microbiome composition and nocturnal cough overall and in the context of asthma.
Am J Hum Genet
January 2025
Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA. Electronic address:
cis-regulatory elements (CREs) control gene transcription dynamics across cell types and in response to the environment. In asthma, multiple immune cell types play an important role in the inflammatory process. Genetic variants in CREs can also affect gene expression response dynamics and contribute to asthma risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Asthma and Air Quality Branch, Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
The epidemiology of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) in the United States is not well-described. To estimate national ABPA prevalence among patients with asthma or cystic fibrosis, characterize ABPA testing practices, and describe ABPA clinical features, treatment, and 6-month outcomes. We used the 2016-2022 Merative™ MarketScan® Commercial/Medicare and Multi-State Medicaid Databases to identify cohorts of patients with 1) asthma, 2) cystic fibrosis (CF), and 3) ABPA.
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