Contents

Disclaimer

Oxford University Press makes no representation, express or implied, that the drug dosages in this book are correct. Readers must therefore always check the product information and clinical procedures with the most up to date published product information and data sheets provided by the manufacturers and the most recent codes of conduct and safety regulations. The authors and the publishers do not accept responsibility or legal liability for any errors in the text or for the misuse or misapplication of material in this work. Except where otherwise stated, drug dosages and recommendations are for the non-pregnant adult who is not breastfeeding.

Show Summary Details
Page of

The inner-city home environment and asthma 

The inner-city home environment and asthma
Chapter:
The inner-city home environment and asthma
Author(s):

Friedlander James

and Phipatanakul Wanda

DOI:
10.1093/med/9780199651559.003.0074
Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD MEDICINE ONLINE (www.oxfordmedicine.com). © Oxford University Press, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Medicine Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 26 June 2019

Background: It has been hypothesized that asthma-related health problems are most severe among children in inner-city areas who are allergic to a specific allergen and also exposed to high levels of that allergen in bedroom dust.Methods: From November 1992 through October 1993, we recruited 476 children with asthma (age, four to nine years) from eight inner-city areas in the United States. Immediate hypersensitivity to cockroach, house-dust-mite, and cat allergens was measured by skin testing. We then measured major allergens of cockroach (Bla g 1), dust mites (Der p 1 and Der f 1), and cat dander (Fel d 1) in household dust using monoclonal-antibody-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. High levels of exposure were defined according to proposed thresholds for causing disease. Data on morbidity due to asthma were collected at base line and over a one-year period. Results: Of the children, 36.8 percent were allergic to cockroach allergen, 34.9 percent to dust-mite allergen, and 22.7 percent to cat allergen. Among the children’s bedrooms, 50.2 percent had high levels of cockroach allergen in dust, 9.7 percent had high levels of dust-mite allergen, and 12.6 percent had high levels of cat allergen. After we adjusted for sex, score on the Child Behavior Checklist, and family history of asthma, we found that children who were both allergic to cockroach allergen and exposed to high levels of this allergen had 0.37 hospitalization a year, as compared with 0.11 for the other children (P = 0.001), and 2.56 unscheduled medical visits for asthma per year, as compared with 1.43 (P < 0.001). They also had significantly more days of wheezing, missed school days, and nights with lost sleep, and their parents or other care givers were awakened during the night and changed their daytime plans because of the child’s asthma significantly more frequently. Similar patterns were not found for the combination of allergy to dust mites or cat dander and high levels of the allergen. Conclusions: The combination of cockroach allergy and exposure to high levels of this allergen may help explain the frequency of asthma-related health problems in inner-city children.

Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.

Please subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.

For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.