title: Asthma and allergy in Albania and the UK.
abstract: In the first phase of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood, a large difference in occurrence of asthma symptoms was seen between children in Albania and the UK. We did skin-prick tests with various allergens and measured peak expiratory flow rate in about 1000 children from each country. A large difference in the proportion of exercise-induced bronchial reactivity was evident between children from Albania and the UK (0.8% vs 5.4%, respectively). However, the frequency of allergic sensitisation was closely similar (15.0% vs 17.8%, respectively). These results suggest that large geographical variations in asthma prevalence can arise without differences in frequency of atopy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Priftanji
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Strachan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burr
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sinamati
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shkurti
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Grabocka
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fitzpatrick
mesh_terms: D000415:Albania / Q000453:epidemiology; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010366:Peak Expiratory Flow Rate; D012882:Skin Tests; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology