Incidence of wheezing and chronic cough in children aged 3-14 years in rural and urban areas of Zhongshan, China: a questionnaire survey / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the incidence of wheezing and chronic cough in children aged 3-14 years in different living areas of Zhongshan, China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>According to the unified program of the 2010 national epidemiological survey of asthmatic children aged 0-14 years, a questionnaire survey of the children aged 3-14 years in rural and urban areas of Zhongshan was conducted.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 15 763 children were included in the survey. Among all participants, 8 248 were from the urban area, and 7 515 from the rual area; 8 306 were boys, and 7 457 were girls. The percentage of children with a history of wheezing was significantly higher in the urban group than in the rural group (6.6% vs 3.2%; P<0.05), and it was significantly higher in boys than in girls for each group (P<0.05). The urban group had a significantly higher percentage of individuals who had wheezing in the past one year than the rural group (2.8% vs 1.5%; P<0.05), and this percentage was significantly higher in boys than in girls for each group (P<0.05). Compared with the rural group, the urban group had a significantly higher percentage of individuals who had chronic cough (duration 1 year) (7.9% vs 3.1%; P<0.05). The above indices were relatively high in children under 6 years of age, and all but the percentage of girls who had wheezing in the past one year in both rural and urban areas showed significant differences between all age groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The incidence of wheezing and chronic cough varies with age, sex, and living area for children aged 3-14 years in Zhongshan, and it is relatively high under 6 years of age, in the urban area, and among boys.</p>

Efficacy of specific sublingual immunotherapy with dermatophagoides farinae drops in the treatment of cough variant asthma in children / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the efficacy and safety of specific sublingual immunotherapy with dermatophagoides farinae drops in the treatment of cough variant asthma in children.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 106 children aged 4-14 years old with cough variant asthma and positive skin prick test responses to dermatophagoides farinae allergens were randomly divided into two groups: SLIT group (n=53), which received specific sublingual immunotherapy with dermatophagoides farinae drops as well as standardized treatment and conventional treatment group (n=53), which received standardized treatment alone. Improvement in cough/asthma symptom scores and the time taken for symptoms to improve were observed after treatment. Serum eosinophil (EOS) level and peak expiratory flow (PEF) were measured after treatment. The side effects were observed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the conventional treatment group, the SLIT group showed significant decrease in symptom scores and serum EOS level and significant increase in PEF (P<0.05). The time at which symptoms began to improve in the SLIT group was earlier than in the conventional treatment group (P<0.05). The effective rate in the SLIT group was significantly higher than in the conventional treatment group (85% vs 68%; P<0.05). Local reactions such as redness, swelling, and itching occurred in some children of the SLIT group but disappeared on the following day.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Specific sublingual immunotherapy with dermatophagoides farinae drops is an effective and highly safe treatment for cough variant asthma in children.</p>

Study of genetic susceptibility in 198 children with asthma / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the frequency distribution of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of four asthma-related gene loci (ACE I/D; ADRB2 Arg16Gly; TNF-α G-308A; MS4A2 Glu237Gly) in 198 asthmatic children, and to investigate its association with genetic susceptibility to childhood asthma and some clinical phenotypes of asthma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Polymerase chain reaction product electrophoresis identification and real-time quantitative PCR detecting system were used to determine the frequency distributions of the SNPs of the four asthma-related gene loci in 198 asthmatic children and 110 healthy controls. The serum total IgE (TIgE) levels and blood eosinophil proportion (%EOS) of the asthmatic children were measured. Different genotypes at the four asthma-related gene loci were compared in terms of TIgE and %EOS.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The genotype DD of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) had a significantly higher frequency in the asthmatic children than in the healthy controls (χ2= 30.667, P<0.01), and the frequency of D allele was also significantly higher in the asthmatic children than in the healthy controls (χ2=7.151, P<0.01). No correlation was found between the polymorphism of each gene locus and serum TIgE level and %EOS (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Genotype DD of ACE is related to genetic susceptibility to childhood asthma and may be the risk factor for childhood asthma.</p>