Pediatric allergy and immunology : official publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
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Pediatr Allergy Immunol · Aug 2015
Multicenter Study Observational StudyAllergic multimorbidity of asthma, rhinitis and eczema over 20 years in the German birth cohort MAS.
The occurrence of allergic multimorbidity (coexistence of asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema) has not been evaluated longitudinally from early childhood up to adulthood in a population-based study sample. We aimed to determine the prevalence of allergic multimorbidity up to age 20 stratified by parental allergies and sex/gender using extensive prospective follow-up data from two decades of a birth cohort study. ⋯ Having parents with allergies is not only a strong predictor to develop any allergy, but it strongly increases the risk of developing allergic multimorbidity. In males and females alike, coexisting allergies were increasingly common throughout adolescence up to adulthood. Particularly asthma occurred in both sexes more frequently with coexisting allergies than as a single entity.