Novel Risk Factors for Allergic Rhinitis in Korean Elementary School Children: ARCO-kids Phase II in a Community.
OBJECTIVE
Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a multifactorial disease whose genetic and environmental risk factors have been studied for decades. Many pediatric studies have pointed out the familial history of allergy, hygiene hypothesis, breast-feeding, pet ownership, and diets as risk factors of AR. However, most of factors are still up for debate. This preliminary report aimed to confirm the known risk factors and find the novel risk factors for AR in the Korean pediatric population.


METHODS
A bi-seasonal, winter and summer, study in 2 elementary schools included all students whose parents completed the questionnaire of medical and social histories, quality of life, infant and early-childhood history, and the living styles. Skin prick tests and endoscopic examinations were conducted on all participants.


RESULTS
Among total 1,020 children, 338 participants had AR. The multivariate logistic regression analysis highlighted 6 factors: male gender (OR, 2.10; 95% CI, 1.32-3.33), older age (1.65; 1.03-2.65), previous history of allergic conjunctivitis (14.25; 4.99-40.74), asthma (2.73; 0.96-7.76) and pneumonia (0.39; 0.19-0.82), and an hour increase in daily playing time (0.90; 0.80-1.00).


CONCLUSIONS
Lack of pneumonia in early childhood and short playing time are newly found risk factors for Korean pediatric AR in this study confirming male gender, older age and previous history of allergic conjunctivitis and asthma as the risk factors.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Doo Hee
DH
Han
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Jae Cheul
JC
Ahn
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Sue Jean
SJ
Mun
Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.; Department of Biomedical Science, Seoul National University Graduate School, Seoul, Korea.; Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Sue K
SK
Park
Department of Food and Nutrition, Kyung Hee University College of Human Ecology, Seoul, Korea.
Se Young
SY
Oh
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.; Graduate School of Immunology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.; Institute of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, Korea.; Sensory Organ Research Institute, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, Korea.; Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea. csrhee@snu.ac.kr.
Chae Seo
CS
Rhee
Allergic rhinitis; play; pneumonia; risk factors