Atopic Dermatitis Linked to Higher Allergy Risk Than Parental History
Published May 2020 | The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
Roughly 10% of American children develop atopic dermatitis (AD), commonly called eczema. While AD has been a known risk factor for asthma development, a lack of cohorts of children with AD has made it difficult to assess how much the skin condition affects allergy sensitization rates.
In a study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Cincinnati Children’s researchers compared sensitization rates between participants of two large studies: the Mechanisms of Progression of Atopic Dermatitis in Children (MPAACH) study, the first pediatric cohort of AD in the U.S. and the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS), a high-risk cohort of children with family histories of allergy and/or asthma.
Previous studies have shown that allergy sensitization rates in children with allergic parents are three and a half times higher than those of the general public. The new study shows that having AD presents an even higher risk.
“Rates of parental allergenic disease were similar in each cohort, but we found 50% overall higher sensitization rates in MPAACH compared to CCAAPS, and almost four times increased co-sensitization to aeroallergens plus food allergens,” says senior lead author Jocelyn Biagini, PhD.
In another recent publication, Biagini and colleagues further found that increased allergy risk from AD may not depend upon overtly damaged skin. The team found that normal-appearing, non-lesional skin of MPAACH children still shows disease features such as low skin filaggrin, high alarmin expression, and increased Staphylococcus aureus colonization.
“We are continuing to follow the MPAACH cohort to determine what factors contribute to the progression of AD to other allergic diseases such as food allergy, allergic rhinitis and asthma,” Biagini says.
