Longitudinal skin prick testing may indicate increased risk for asthma

HOUSTON —Longitudinal skin prick testing may identify children with allergies who have an increased risk for developing asthma, according to data presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting.

“Few studies have examined patterns of allergic sensitization during early childhood to identify children at risk for developing asthma,” study researcher Jessica S. Tan, MD, MPH, of the University of Cincinnati, and colleagues wrote. “We hypothesized that patterns of allergic sensitization based on longitudinal skin prick testing can identify children at risk for asthma at age 7.”

Jessica S. Tan

Researchers assessed 492 children who completed skin prick testing for cat, dog, dust mite and cockroach aeroallergens at ages 1, 2, 3 and 4 years. Parental reports of lower respiratory symptoms and bronchodilator spirometry or methacholine testing confirmed children’s asthma status. Seventeen percent of the study cohort were diagnosed with asthma at age 7 years.

Skin prick testing results identified five clusters of children with similar allergy patterns: cockroach, persistent cat, late persistent dust mite, early transient dust mite and less atopic.

When compared with who were less atopic, children who were consistently sensitized to cats were approximately three times more likely to have asthma at age 7 years (OR = 2.6; 95% CI, 1.5-5.2). Children with early sensitization to dust mites were almost four times as likely to have asthma at age 7 years (OR = 3.8; 95% CI, 1.5-8.8) compared with less atopic children.

“More research is needed but it appears year-to-year skin prick tests may distinguish between allergic sensitization patterns in children and identify who is at the highest risk for developing asthma,” Tan said in a press release. “We believe that the patterns of skin testing positivity over 3 years can predict who is more likely to develop asthma by age 7 for children who have family history of allergic diseases.” – by Amanda Oldt

Reference:

Tan JS, et al. Abstract 740. Presented at: the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting; Feb. 20-24, 2015; Houston.

Disclosure: Tan reports no relevant financial disclosures. Infectious Diseases in Children was unable to confirm financial disclosures for the other researchers at the time of publication.