| Abstract: | OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between allergen sensitization and current asthma in children from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2006. METHODS: Children from the NHANES 2005-2006, aged 6 to 19 years, were included in this study. A structured questionnaire was used to assess asthma status, including without asthma, asthma in remission, and current asthma. Nineteen specific IgE (sIgE) levels were measured using the Pharmacia Diagnostics ImmunoCAP 1000 System (Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA). A machine-learning method was applied to select important sIgEs related to childhood asthma. Multivariate regression analysis was used to test this hypothesis. RESULTS: A total of 2,875 children were recruited. The prevalence of ever having asthma and current asthma was, 16.5% and 5.6%, respectively. Six specific IgE levels were found to contribute to asthma using bootstrap forest selection. After adjusting for child's sex, age, and family income, children with the double of sIgE levels of Dermatophagoides farinae, dog, and Aspergillus were related to current asthma, as compared to children without asthma [odds ratio (95% confident interval) = 1.11 (1.04-1.19), 1.30 (1.16-1.46), and 1.54 (1.38-1.72), respectively]. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggested that allergen sensitization, especially to Aspergillus, is associated with current asthma in children. Strategies to reduce sensitization may help prevent and manage asthma. |
