The association between seropositivity to human toxocariasis and childhood asthma in northern Iran: a case-control study

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Besides the well-known risk factors, Toxocara infection is thought to play a signif­icant etiological role in the development of childhood asthma. To further explore this associa­tion, the prevalence of Toxocara infection in sera of asthmatic children and healthy controls in northern Iran was investigated. METHODS: In this case-control study, cases were 145 physician-confirmed asthmatic children diag­nosed according to the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines. Controls were 115 age- sex-residence-matched children who did not have physician-diagnosed asthma. The presence of anti-Toxocara immunoglobulin G (IgG) was tested using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression methods were used for case-control comparisons. RESULTS: Seropositivity rate was 4.1% (95% CI, 3.4-4.7%) in asthmatic children and 0.86% (95% CI, 0.71-1.0%) in controls, suggesting a strong association (P-value < 0.02). Moreover, Toxocara infection was not significantly more prevalent (P-value = 0.12) in children with moderate sus­tainable asthma (9.3%, 3/32) than in children with mild sustainable asthma (2.3%, 3/113). Mean total immunoglobulin E (IgE) level was significantly higher in Toxocara-infected children (222.3 ± 367.1) than in non-infected children (143.19 ± 218.05) in the case group (P-value < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicated that Toxocara infection can play an important role in child­hood asthma. Further experimental and epidemiological studies are needed to clarify this hypothesis:

RESUMEN

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