title: Association of allergic symptoms in children with those in their parents.
abstract: This study investigated the association of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and eczema in United Arab Emirates (UAE) schoolchildren with allergic conditions in their parents. A cross-sectional, population-based study among schoolchildren aged 6-14 years was conducted in Al-Ain City, UAE. The field survey was conducted from October 1992 to May 1993. A questionnaire was distributed to 850 UAE government school students from representative, randomly selected schools with a majority of UAE nationals. The student and both or either of the parents were present during the interview. A detailed clinical history of asthma and wheezing in the target children and a history of asthma and allergic rhinitis in their parents and siblings were obtained. It was found that 13.1% of asthmatic children had mothers with asthma (relative risk (RR) = 2.67; 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 1.65-4.35), and 15.2% had fathers who were asthmatic (RR = 2.85; 95% CI = 1.81-4.49). This contrasted with 4.4% of nonasthmatic children who had fathers with asthma, and 4.1% who had mothers with asthma. A similar pattern was seen with symptoms of allergic rhinitis when it was found that 34.3% of children who had asthma had mothers with allergic rhinitis (RR: 2.74; 95% CI: 1.90-3.94). The corresponding figure for fathers was 12.7% (RR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.5-1.7). The frequency of either parent of the asthmatic children having allergic rhinitis was 28.6%; for both parents, it was 14.5%. It was also found that asthmatic children had 12.5% of their fathers, 32.8% of their mothers, 26.4% of either of their parents, and 33.3% of both their parents suffering from allergic rhinitis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain.
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Abdulrazzaq
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bener
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: DeBuse
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D002648:Child; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004485:Eczema / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D005220:Fathers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D015995:Prevalence; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D014479:United Arab Emirates / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population