title: Asthma and toxocariasis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children and a major public health problem in adults. A relation between asthma and toxocariasis has been hypothesized.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the strength of association between asthma and Toxocara species seropositivity by conducting a systematic review and a meta-analysis of available data.
  
  
  METHODS
  PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the reference lists of all relevant articles and books were screened until October 2013. Two authors independently assessed eligibility and study quality and extracted data. A common odds ratio was estimated using a random-effects meta-analysis model of aggregated published data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ten studies met the inclusion criteria, for a total of 1,530 participants (723 cases and 807 controls). This meta-analysis found a significantly higher prevalence of Toxocara canis infection in patients with asthma than in controls (odds ratio 3.36, 95% confidence interval 1.76-6.42, P < .001). Similar results were found when meta-analysis was restricted to the studies considering only children or adults.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results support the existence of a positive association between asthma and Toxocara species seropositivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Lingling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Dandan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Sini
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Mao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: xyao1998@126.com.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yao
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D017166:Toxocara canis / Q000276:immunology*; D014120:Toxocariasis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult