A LINK BETWEEN ATOPIC DERMATITIS AND OBESITY IN CHILDREN UNDER SIXTEEN YEARS
Abstract
Background. Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most frequent inflammatory disease of the skin in the childhood. The prevalence of AD, overweight and obesity in Slovenia continue to rise. An association between asthma and overweight/ obesity was observed in girls, but a similar association between AD and overweight/obesity hasn’t been confirmed yet. The aim of the study was to confirm the association betweenoverweight/ obesity and AD in two to sixteen years old children.
Methods. 2240 children were included in this prospective study. A pediatrician visited them in pediatric dispensary of Health Centre Šempeter between 1st Jan. 2001 and 31st Dec. 2001. 751 children breast fed for 4 or more months and with normal parental body mass index (BMI) were selected for this study. Children were divided in three groups related to their BMI: group A-normal weight children, group B-overweight and group C-obese children. Physician’s diagnosis of AD was ascertained with the ISAAC core, positive skin prick tests and elevated specific IgE. Chi-square testing was used to asses significant differences in the prevalence of AD in overweight and obese compared to normal weight children.
Results. 5.2% of children from group A had AD, 23.3% from group B and 32.7% from group C. A significant effect of overweight and obesity on AD was found (P < 0.001, MantelHaenszel chi-square test; Epi. Info, version 6.05.)
Conclusions. This study confirmed a strong association between an atopic dermatitis and overweight/obesity in two to sixteen years old children. The causes of this association are unclear and the association maybe related to factors other than atopy.
Downloads
References
Sly M. Allergic Disorders. In: Behrman RE, Kliegman RM, Jenson HB. Nelson textbook of pediatrics. 16th ed. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 2000: 680–4.
Schultz Larsen F, Diepgen T, Svensson A. The occurrence of atopic dermatitis in north Europe: an international guestionnaire study. J Am Acad Dermatol 1996; 25: 815–9.
Avčin T. Atopijski dermatitis: patogeneza, klinična slika in diagnostika. Pediatrična alergologija. Ljubljana: Klinični center, Pediatrična klinika, Služba za alergologijo in revmatske bolezni, 2002: 69–75.
Dragoš V, Kuhar M. Atopijski dermatitis: diferencialna diagnoza in zdravljenje. Pediatrična alergologija. Ljubljana: Klinični center, Pediatrična klinika, Služba za alergologijo in revmatske bolezni, 2002: 77–85.
Linna O, Kokkonen J, Lahtela P et al. Ten-years prognosis for generalized infantile eczema. Acta Paediatr 1992; 81: 1013–6.
Guillet GG, Guillet MH. Natural history of sensitizations in atopic dermatitis. Arch Dermatol 1992; 128: 187–92.
Musgrove K, Morgan J. Infantile eczema. A long-term follow-up study. Br J Dermatol 1976; 95: 365–72.
Camargo CA Jr, Weiss ST, Zhang S, Willett WC, Speizer FE. Prospective study of body mass index, weight change, and risk of adult-onset asthma in women. Arch Intern Med 1999; 159: 2582–8.
Chen Y, Dales R, Krewski D, Breithaupt K. Increased effects of smoking and obesity on asthma among female Canadians: the National Population Health Survey, 1994–1995. Am J Epidemiol 1999; 150: 255–62.
Huang SL, Shiao G, Chou P. Association between body mass index and allergy in teenage girls in Taiwan. Clin Exp Allergy 1999; 29: 323–9.
Negri E, Pagano R, Decarli A, La Vecchia C. Body weight and the prevalence of chronic diseases. J Epidemiol Community Health 1988; 42: 24–9.
Von Kries R, Hermann M, Grunert VP, von Mutius E. Is obesity a risk factor for childhood asthma? Allergy 2001; 56: 318–22.
Cole TJ, Bellizzi MC, Flegal KM, Dietz WH. Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: international survey. BMJ 2000; 320: 1240–3.
ISAAC Committee. Worldwide variations in the prevalence of atopic diseases: the international study of asthma and allergies in childhood (ISAAC). Lancet 1998; 351: 1225–32.
Hanifin JM, Rajka G. Diagnostic features of atopic dermatitis. Acta Dermatol Venereol 1980; 92: Suppl: 44–7.
Shaheen SO, Sterne JA, Montgomery SM, Azima H. Birth weight, body mass index and asthma in young adults. Thorax 1999; 54: 396–402.
Shuster S, Fisher GH, Harris E, Binnel D. The effect of skin disease on selfimage. Br J Dermatol 1978; 99: Suppl 16: 18–9.
Ginsburg IH, Prystowsky JH, Kornfeld DS, Wolland H. Role of emotional factors in adults with atopic dermatitis. Int J Dermatol 1993; 32: 656–60.
Ring J, Brockow K, Abeck D. The therapeutic concept of »patient management« in atopic eczema. Allergy 1996; 51: 206–15.
The Author transfers to the Publisher (Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal) all economic copyrights following form Article 22 of the Slovene Copyright and Related Rights Act (ZASP), including the right of reproduction, the right of distribution, the rental right, the right of public performance, the right of public transmission, the right of public communication by means of phonograms and videograms, the right of public presentation, the right of broadcasting, the right of rebroadcasting, the right of secondary broadcasting, the right of communication to the public, the right of transformation, the right of audiovisual adaptation and all other rights of the author according to ZASP.
The aforementioned rights are transferred non-exclusively, for an unlimited number of editions, for the term of the statutory
The Author can make use of his work himself or transfer subjective rights to others only after 3 months from date of first publishing in the journal Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal.
The Publisher (Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal) has the right to transfer the rights, acquired parties without explicit consent of the Author.
The Author consents that the Article be published under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 (attribution-non-commercial) or comparable licence.
