Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Volume 18, Issue 11, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18116156
Keywords
Angola; asthma; atopy; children; eczema; helminths; rhinoconjunctivitis
Funding
- CISA Health Research Center of Angola, Caxito, Bengo, Angola [CISA_2017_01]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study in Angolan schoolchildren found no consistent associations between intestinal helminth infections and asthma, allergic diseases, or atopy, except for Ascaris lumbricoides, which was inversely associated with rhinoconjunctivitis and directly associated with aeroallergen-specific IgE.
Epidemiological studies have shown conflicting findings on the relationship between asthma, atopy, and intestinal helminth infections. There are no such studies from Angola; therefore, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between asthma, allergic diseases, atopy, and intestinal helminth infection in Angolan schoolchildren. We performed a cross-sectional study of schoolchildren between September and November 2017. Five schools (three urban, two rural) were randomly selected. Asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, and eczema were defined by appropriate symptoms in the previous 12 months: atopy was defined by positive skin prick tests (SPT) or aeroallergen-specific IgE; intestinal helminths were detected by faecal sample microscopy. In total, 1023 children were evaluated (48.4% female; 57.6% aged 10-14 years; 60.5% urban). Asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, or eczema were present in 9%, 6%, and 16% of the studies children, respectively. Only 8% of children had positive SPT, but 64% had positive sIgE. Additionally, 40% were infected with any intestinal helminth (A. lumbricoides 25.9%, T. trichiura 7.6%, and H. nana 6.3%). There were no consistent associations between intestinal helminth infections and asthma, allergic diseases, or atopy, except for A. lumbricoides, which was inversely associated with rhinoconjuctivitis and directly associated with aeroallergen-specific IgE. We concluded that, overall, intestinal helminth infections were not consistently associated with allergic symptoms or atopy. Future, preferably longitudinal, studies should collect more detailed information on helminth infections as part of clusters of environmental determinants of allergies.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available