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JACI Highlights - July 2008
Childhood eczema, asthma incidence, and persistence: a cohort study from childhood to middle age
John A Burgess, MBBS, FRACP, MEpid, Shyamali C Dharmage, MBBS, MD, MSc, PhD, Graham B Byrnes, BSc(Hons), PhD, Lyle C. Gurrin, BSc, PhD, Melanie C Matheson, BSc, BAppSc, GradCertHlthInfo, David P Johns, CRFS, PhD, FANZSRS, Michael J Abramson, MBBS, BMedSc(Hons), FRACP, PhD, FAFPHM, John L Hopper, BSc, MSc, PhD, BA, E Haydn Walters, MA, DM, FRCP, FRACP
There is evidence that the prevalence of childhood eczema has increased in recent decades. An association between childhood eczema and asthma has been previously shown. It is speculated that eczema, allergies, and asthma may be diseases with a common allergic association. This theory is known as the "atopic march", proposing that the immune system is sensitized by eczema to progress to rhinitis (hay fever) and/or asthma. There is no established explanation for this suggested progression, although it is thought that genetics and environmental factors may be involved. In an upcoming issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Burgess and colleagues, using data from the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study (TAHS), examine the associations between childhood eczema and asthma at mid-life. The TAHS is a collaborative project involving the University of Melbourne, Monash University and the Menzies Research Institute in Tasmania. Their research found childhood eczema to be significantly associated with childhood asthma and the effect of eczema on asthma risk persisting well past childhood. From age 8 to 44, the incidence of asthma in people with childhood eczema was nearly double that of people who had not experienced early eczema. The authors suggest that aggressively treating childhood eczema may provide an opportunity to prevent asthma later in life.
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