title: It is children with atopic dermatitis who develop asthma more frequently if the mother smokes.
abstract: We elicited symptoms of atopic dermatitis (AD) and of asthma from 620 children who were themselves nonsmokers, were aged 1 to 17 years, and had been consecutively referred to an allergy clinic. A histamine bronchial-challenge test revealed bronchial hyperresponsiveness in 95% of the children who had a history of wheezing or asthma and who could perform the test reliably, indicating that most of them did indeed have asthma. Children with a history of AD were much more likely to have asthma if the mother was a smoker than if she was a nonsmoker (79% versus 52%; p = 0.001). Similarly, if AD was found on examination, the percentages with asthma were 74% and 44%, respectively. By contrast, the children with no history of AD had asthma as frequently if the mother was a nonsmoker (42%) as when she was a smoker (40%). In children with AD, the prevalence of asthma was greater in both boys and girls when the mother was a smoker, but only in boys when the father was a smoker. Multiple logistic regression confirmed that the risk of asthma was greatly increased when the child had both AD and a mother who smoked.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Morrison
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D001985:Bronchial Provocation Tests; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006632:Histamine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012882:Skin Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution; D006632:Histamine