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PARENTAL ALLERGY TO FARM ALLERGENS NAD ALLERGIC ILLNESSES IN CHILDREN
Citation:
Svendsen, E., A. Naleway, P. Thorne, A. Stromquist, AND J. Merchant. PARENTAL ALLERGY TO FARM ALLERGENS NAD ALLERGIC ILLNESSES IN CHILDREN. Presented at American Thoracic Society Meeting, Seattle, WA, May 16-21, 2003.
Description:
Recent literature has reported low asthma and/or atopy prevalence or associated symptoms in rural/agricultural populations. We found relatively high rates of childhood asthma (16%), atopy (36%), and bronchial hyper-responsiveness (BHR) (45%) in a completely rural cohort. The highest prevalence of asthma was in farm children, atopy in town children, and BHR was equivalent in town, rural/non-farm, and farm children. We tested the hypothesis that parental farm allergies were associated with these outcomes in a cross-sectional study of data from Round I of the Keokuk County Rural Health Study. Parental interview, spirometry, methylcholine inhalation challenge, skin-prick testing (SPT), and serum specific IgE (sub-sample only) data were included. This study was limited to 487 children ages 3-17 years. Several specific parental allergy and sensitization variables were associated with asthma, atopy, and/or BHR, including farm allergies to hogs (31.0% prevalence, asthma OR=1.98, 95%CI 1.21-3.24), soybeans (16.6% prevalence, asthma OR= 2.48, 95%CI 1.42-4.34), and chickens (8.2% prevalence, atopy OR= 1.90, 95%CI 0.99-3.63). After adjustment for other covariates, multiple comparisons within homes, and other environmental exposures; parental allergy to soybeans was associated with increased asthma prevalence in children (OR= 1.12, 95%CI 1.02-1.23). Similarly, parental allergy to chicken was weakly associated with atopy (OR= 1.15, 95%CI 0.99-1.35). No parental allergy or sensitization variables were associated with bronchial hyper-responsiveness in multivariate models. Our study suggests that atopy prevalence on farms was low relative to town and rural residents. Parental atopy to farm antigens was a weak contributor to a child's risk of developing atopic illnesses. NIOSH U07/CCU706145. This abstract does not necessarily represent EPA policy.