Adult-onset asthma can be predicted by the presence of rhinitis, both
allergic and non-allergic, according to an article released on
September 19, 2008 in The Lancet.
To investigate the potential implications of both allergic and
non-allergic rhinitis on adult-onset asthma, Rafea Shaaban, Mahmoud
Zureik, and Benedicte Leynaert, of the INSERM Epidemiology
Team, Paris, France, and colleagues, examined data from the
European Community Health Survey. Adult patients between the ages of 20
and 44 years with allergic and non-allergic rhinitis were tracked over
8.8 years. In total, 6,461 patients were examined in 29 centers in 14
different countries, mostly in Western Europe. None of the participants
had asthma at the start of the study.
Each patient was examined for rhinitis. Then, any potential allergies
were tested by a skin-prick test for the following exposures: house
dust mites, cats, two types of fungus, grass, birch, the flowering
plant Parietartia, olive, or ragweed. Based on these results, the
patients were classified into one of four groups: the control group,
with no allergies and no rhinitis; atopy only, with no rhinitis;
non-allergic rhinitis; and allergic rhinitis.
In the 8.8 years of follow up, asthma had developed in 1.1% of the
control group, 1.9% of the atopy only group, 3.1% of the non-allergic
rhinitis, and 4.0% of the allergic rhinitis groups. After adjustment
for country,
sex, baseline age, body-mass index, lung capacity, family history
of asthma, and smoking, those with allergies were 1.63 times as likely
than controls to have asthma. those with non-allergic rhinitis were
more than 2.5 times as likely to have asthma, those with allergic
rhinitis had 3.5 times the risk of asthma. Notably, sensitization to
dust mites was the only allergy associated independently with asthma.
generic propecia online buy All of the associations were seen in men and women.
The authors point out that, especially given the magnitude of this
study, this association between asthma and rhinitis is a powerful
direction for future asthma research. "This large
prospective study provides strong evidence for an
increased risk of asthma in adults with allergic rhinitis,
and to
a lesser extent non-allergic rhinitis…Several clinical
trials
in asthmatic patients with allergic rhinitis were associated with a
reduction in asthma symptoms. However, only interventional
studies could be used to conclude that the treatment of allergic
rhinitis is effective in reducing the incidence of asthma."
Dr Erika von Mutius, University Children’s
Hospital, Munich, Germany, contributed an accompanying comment
which points out the potential implications of this work: "The
idea that allergic rhinitis
could cause asthma raises the possibility of preventing
asthma by
preventing atopic sensation, which could in turn prevent
allergic
rhinitis."
Rhinitis and onset of asthma: a
longitudinal population-based study
Rafea Shaaban, Mahmoud Zureik, David Soussan, Catherine Neukirch,
Joachim Heinrich, Jordi Sunyer, Matthias Wjst, Isa Cerveri, Isabelle
Pin, Jean Bousquet, Deborah Jarvis, Peter G Burney,
Francoisenedicte Leynaert
Lancet 2008; 372: 1049-57
Click Here For Journal
Written by Anna Sophia McKenney
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February 14th 2008 Uncategorized
