Prevalence and association of asthma and allergic sensitization with dietary factors in schoolchildren: data from the french six cities study

International audienceBackground: The prevalence of asthma and allergy has recently risen among children. This increase in prevalence might be related to various factors, particularly diet. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence and association of asthma and allergic sensitization with dietary factors in the French Six Cities Study. Methods: Cross-sectional studies were performed among 7432 schoolchildren aged 9-11 years in Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Creteil, Marseille, Reims, and Strasbourg. Parental questionnaires, based on the International Study on Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC), were used to collect information on allergic diseases and potential exposure factors including a food frequency questionnaire to evaluate dietary habits. Skin prick testing to common allergens for allergic sensitization and bronchial hyper-responsiveness (BHR) testing to exercise were performed. Confounders control was performed with multiple logistic regressions. Results: Asthma symptoms, asthma and allergic sensitization were more prevalent in boys than in girls and were more prevalent in the South than in the North of France. After adjustment for confounders, fruit juice intake was associated with a low prevalence of lifetime asthma (ORa [95 % CI]; 0.73 [0.56-0.97]), butter intake was positively associated with atopic wheeze (1.48 [1.07-2.05]) and having lunch at the canteen 1-2 times/week compared to never or occasionally was associated with a lower prevalence of past year wheeze (0.71 [0.52-0.96]), lifetime asthma (0.76 [0.60-0.96]) and allergic sensitization (0.80 [0.67-0.95]). Meat intake was inversely related to past year wheeze among atopic children (0.68 [0.50-0.98]) while fast food consumption and butter intake were associated with an increase prevalence of asthma (2.39 [1.47-3.93] and 1.51 [1.17-2.00] respectively). Fish intake was associated with a lower prevalence of asthma among non-atopic children (0.61 [0.43-0.87]. None of the dietary factors was associated with BHR. Conclusions: Diet is associated with wheeze, asthma and allergic sensitization but not with BHR in children. These results provide further evidence that adherence to a healthy diet including fruits, meat and fish seems to have a protective effect on asthma and allergy in childhood. However, prospective and experimental studies are needed to provide causal evidence concerning the effect of diet on asthma and atopy

Determining factors the knowledge of the element of diabetic foot prevention of patients followed at the endocrinology unit of Joseph Raseta Befelatanana hospital

Background: Diabetic foot (DF) is a common and disabling complication of diabetes that requires effective prevention. Objectives of this study are to investigate the factors determining knowledge of preventive measures for diabetic feet. Methods: We performed a analytical, single-center, cross-sectional study at the endocrinology unit of the Joseph Raseta Befelatanana university hospital between September 2023 and January 2024. One hundred patients were included. The ANOVA test was used for the comparison of means. Chi-square was used to measure the association between two qualitative variables. The significance level of p<0.05. Results: The least known prevention elements by diabetics were: methods to remove horns (such as the use of sharp objects), those to remove nails as well as dangerous methods to warm the feet. The knowledge rates for these elements in the population were 7%, 47% and 45% respectively. Patients living in rural areas had less knowledge of podiatric prevention (p=0.03). Those with at least a "high school" level (95% CI=2.67 [1.14-6.21]; (p=0.02), diabetics with at least two dependent children (p=0.02), as well as those who followed regular treatment (p=0.03) had significantly better knowledge of these preventive measures for foot lesions. Conclusions: This study encourages a strengthening of the education of diabetics in relation to these preventive measures for foot lesions. Especially in patients with these characteristics

Prenatal exposures and exposomics of asthma

This review examines the causal investigation of preclinical development of childhood asthma using exposomic tools. We examine the current state of knowledge regarding early-life exposure to non-biogenic indoor air pollution and the developmental modulation of the immune system. We examine how metabolomics technologies could aid not only in the biomarker identification of a particular asthma phenotype, but also the mechanisms underlying the immunopathologic process. Within such a framework, we propose alternate components of exposomic investigation of asthma in which, the exposome represents a reiterative investigative process of targeted biomarker identification, validation through computational systems biology and physical sampling of environmental medi

Population prevalence of asthma and its determinants based on European Community Respiratory Health Survey in the United Arab Emirates

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>No population study has explored the population distribution of adult asthma in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The objective is to estimate asthma prevalence in general population in UAE.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using standard European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) questionnaires and tools, this is a cross-sectional assessment of a random sample of the population in established quotas of the seven Emirates in the UAE. We surveyed 1,220 participants, of which 63.2% were male, and 20.1% were UAE Nationals, with a mean (SD) age of 32.9 (14.1) years.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Prevalence of individual respiratory symptoms from the ECRHS screening questionnaire in all participants were generally ranging 8 - 10%, while participants 20-44 years presented lower prevalence in all symptoms (<it>p </it>< 0.05). The expected male:female ratio of reported wheezing and asthma attacks and its treatment by age was not observed. Participating women reported more individual symptoms than men. Overall, there were 15.4% (95% C.I. 13.5 - 17.5) participants who fulfilled our screening criteria for asthma, while for consistency with ECRHS, there were 12.1% (95% C.I. 10.4 - 14.1) participants who fulfilled the ECRHS asthma definition, being 9.8% (95% C.I. 7.8 - 12.2) of those 20-44 years, that is 8.6% of male and 11.8% of female young adults participating.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that asthma is common in the UAE, and gender differences are not observed in reported asthma symptoms in young adults. This being the first population based study exploring the prevalence of asthma and its determinants in the United Arab Emirates based on the ECRHS.</p

PLoS One

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196711.]

Microorganisms

The indoor microbial community is a mixture of microorganisms resulting from outdoor ecosystems that seed the built environment. However, the biogeography of the indoor microbial community is still inadequately studied. Dust from more than 3000 dwellings across France was analyzed by qPCR using 17 targets: 10 molds, 3 bacteria groups, and 4 mites. Thus, the first spatial description of the main indoor microbial allergens on the French territory, in relation with biogeographical factors influencing the distribution of microorganisms, was realized in this study. Ten microorganisms out of 17 exhibited increasing abundance profiles across the country: Five microorganisms (Dermatophagoïdes pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoïdes spp., Streptomyces spp., Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Epicoccum nigrum) from northeast to southwest, two (Cryptococcus spp., Alternaria alternata) from northwest to southeast, Mycobacteria from east to west, Aspergillus fumigatus from south to north, and Penicillium chrysogenum from south to northeast. These geographical patterns were partly linked to climate and land cover. Multivariate analysis showed that composition of communities seemed to depend on landscapes, with species related to closed and rather cold and humid landscapes (forests, located in the northeast) and others to more open, hot, and dry landscapes (herbaceous and coastal regions, located in the west). This study highlights the importance of geographical location and outdoor factors that shape communities. In order to study the effect of microorganisms on human health (allergic diseases in particular), it is important to identify biogeographic factors that structure microbial communities on large spatial scales and to quantify the exposure with quantitative tools, such as the multi-qPCR approach

Early exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke and the development of allergic diseases in 4 year old children in Malmö, Sweden

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Earlier studies have shown an association between secondhand tobacco smoke and allergy development in children. Furthermore, there is an increased risk of developing an allergy if the parents have an allergy. However, there are only few studies investigating the potential synergistic effect of secondhand tobacco smoke and allergic heredity on the development of an allergy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was population-based cross-sectional with retrospective information on presence of secondhand tobacco smoke during early life. The study population consisted of children who visited the Child Health Care (CHC) centres in Malmö for their 4-year health checkup during 2006-2008 and whose parents answered a self-administered questionnaire (n = 4,278 children). The questionnaire was distributed to parents of children registered with the CHC and invited for the 4-year checkup during the study period.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was a two to four times increased odds of the child having an allergy or having sought medical care due to allergic symptoms if at least one parent had an allergy, while there were rather small increased odds related to presence of secondhand smoke during the child's first month in life or at the age of 8 months. However, children with heredity for allergies and with presence of secondhand tobacco smoke during their first year in life had highly increased odds of developing an allergy and having sought medical care due to allergic symptoms at 4 years of age. Thus, there was a synergistic effect enhancing the independent effects of heredity and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke on allergy development.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Children with a family history of allergies and early exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke is a risk group that prevention and intervention should pay extra attention to. The tobacco smoke effect on children is an essential and urgent question considering it not being self chosen, possibly giving life lasting negative health effects and being possible to reduce.</p

Food hypersensitivity : an examination of factors influencing symptoms and temporal changes in the prevalence of sensitization in an adult sample

Funding Information: HCYL is supported by the Medical Research Council Centre for Environment and Health. NSI is supported by the Centre for Food and Allergy Research (NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence) PhD scholarship and the Melbourne Children’s LifeCourse top-up PhD scholarship (Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation grant #2018-984). ISGlobal acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019-2023” Program (CEX2018-000806-S), and the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).Background/Objectives: Food hypersensitivity (FHS) is common, but little is known about the factors associated with severe reactions, age of onset and whether sensitization persists. This study examines the factors associated with self-reported severe food reactions, onset age and the changes in prevalence of sensitization to foods over time in an adult sample. Subjects/Methods: We used data from adults taking part in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) III (2010–2014) who provided information on food hypersensitivity, including symptoms, suspected culprit food and onset age (n = 4865). A subsample from six countries had serum food-specific IgE tested for 25 core foods and also in 10 years earlier (ECRHS II). We applied logistic regression and McNemar’s test for analyses. Results: The prevalence of self-reported FHS was 13.5% at ECRHS III. Of those providing information on symptoms (n = 611), 26.4% reported severe reactions. About 80% of 1033 reported food-specific reactions (reported by 596 participants) began after age 15. History of asthma (odds ratio OR 2.12 95% confidence interval CI 1.13–3.44) and a younger age of onset of FHS (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.01–1.03, per year) were associated with higher risks of a lifetime experience of severe food reactions. In the subsample with IgE tested in both surveys (n = 1612), the overall prevalence of sensitization to foods did not change over 10 years. Conclusion: Our findings support previous observations of more severe food reactions in people with asthma and that most FHS reported by this sample started after age 15. We found no evidence of changes in the prevalence of sensitization to food in adults followed for 10 years.Peer reviewe