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Allergy & Asthma Advocate: Summer 2005
The studies summarized below appeared in the June and July 2005 issues of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI), the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Intervention program reduces asthma in children
Moira Chan-Yeung, MB, and colleagues from the Canadian Childhood Asthma Prevention Study, studied high risk infants with an immediate family history of asthma and allergies. The children were assigned to either a study or control group. At age seven, 469 children completed a questionnaire asking about respiratory symptoms, and the frequency, severity and medication for treatment of wheezing attacks in the last 12 months. Three hundred eighty of the children returned for further assessment by a pediatric allergist and underwent breathing tests to determine the degree of airway hyperresponsiveness, a typical feature of asthma. The study found that the intervention measures significantly reduced the frequency of asthma by 56%. The prevalence of asthma was significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group (14.9% vs. 23%). Day care facilities an important source for common indoor allergens
Indoor allergies have been associated with an increased risk of allergy and asthma development in children. Many studies have examined this relationship using levels found in the child’s home since this is where they typically spend most of their time. Many children also spend a significant amount of time in day care. In 1997, 63% of the country’s 19.6 million children under the age of five were in some form of regular child care during a typical week. However, little information is known on allergy levels in day care facilities in the United States. Samuel J. Arbes, DDS, MPH, PhD, and colleagues from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences examined the levels of seven indoor allergens (dog, cat, mouse, American and European dust mite, fungus, and cockroach) in 89 day care facilities located in two North Carolina counties. At each facility, researchers administered questionnaires and collected dust samples from the room where children spent the most time. They collected either a carpet sample, hard surfaces sample, or one of each if both were present. Researchers discovered:
Researchers compared the results of the study to results of the National Survey of Lead and Allergens in Housing, which studied allergen concentrations in 831 homes. They found that although levels of these allergens were high enough in some day care facilities to trigger allergy and asthma symptoms, they were very similar to those found in living rooms in the Southern United States. This study provides evidence that day care settings are an important source of exposure to indoor allergens. Further research should be conducted to examine relationships between allergen exposure in day-care faculties and the effect on the health of children and day-care workers.
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An asthma intervention program applied during the first year of life significantly reduced the prevalence of asthma in high risk children at 7 years of age, according to findings in the July 2005 Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology (JACI). 
Day care facilities were shown to be an important source for allergen exposure, according to a study featured in the July 2005 Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology (JACI).