Environment and Development of Atopy
Environment and Development of Atopy
Purpose of Review: Asthma and other atopic disorders are the result of complex interactions between genetic predisposition and multiple environmental influences. However, the marked increase in asthma prevalence over recent decades is unlikely to be due to genetic changes, highlighting the contribution of environmental factors to the process of allergic sensitization.
Recent Findings: This article reviews recent information on environmental influences on the development of atopy in children. Both observational and interventional studies continue to shed new light on the critical influence of early life events - such as events in pregnancy, exposure to allergens and endotoxin, pet ownership, infections, family size - and have highlighted important gene-environment interactions that modify the relationships between environmental exposures and atopic outcomes.
Summary: The future is likely to see a concerted effort to further define the role that these environmental exposures play in allergic sensitization and the expression of atopic diseases, in order to provide a rational platform on which to develop new methods of allergy prevention that can be targeted at high-risk children.
Asthma and other atopic disorders are thought to be due to complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. The prevalence of atopy, asthma and allergic rhinitis has dramatically increased over the last 30 years, though Australian data suggest that this increase may now be levelling off. In many developing countries, increasing Westernization is associated with a rapid rise in the prevalence of previously uncommon atopic disorders. Notwithstanding the importance of genetic factors, the time frame over which these increases have occurred makes it implausible that they could be the result of genetic changes, highlighting the importance of environmental factors in the pathogenesis of allergic sensitization and the expression of atopic diseases.
The importance of early life events in the natural history of atopy has long been recognized. This view is further reinforced by recent findings from a population-based birth cohort, which clearly demonstrates that persistent asthma in young adults is associated with early age at onset of wheezing and impaired lung function during childhood, confirming that these important outcomes in adult asthma are determined early in childhood.
Purpose of Review: Asthma and other atopic disorders are the result of complex interactions between genetic predisposition and multiple environmental influences. However, the marked increase in asthma prevalence over recent decades is unlikely to be due to genetic changes, highlighting the contribution of environmental factors to the process of allergic sensitization.
Recent Findings: This article reviews recent information on environmental influences on the development of atopy in children. Both observational and interventional studies continue to shed new light on the critical influence of early life events - such as events in pregnancy, exposure to allergens and endotoxin, pet ownership, infections, family size - and have highlighted important gene-environment interactions that modify the relationships between environmental exposures and atopic outcomes.
Summary: The future is likely to see a concerted effort to further define the role that these environmental exposures play in allergic sensitization and the expression of atopic diseases, in order to provide a rational platform on which to develop new methods of allergy prevention that can be targeted at high-risk children.
Asthma and other atopic disorders are thought to be due to complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. The prevalence of atopy, asthma and allergic rhinitis has dramatically increased over the last 30 years, though Australian data suggest that this increase may now be levelling off. In many developing countries, increasing Westernization is associated with a rapid rise in the prevalence of previously uncommon atopic disorders. Notwithstanding the importance of genetic factors, the time frame over which these increases have occurred makes it implausible that they could be the result of genetic changes, highlighting the importance of environmental factors in the pathogenesis of allergic sensitization and the expression of atopic diseases.
The importance of early life events in the natural history of atopy has long been recognized. This view is further reinforced by recent findings from a population-based birth cohort, which clearly demonstrates that persistent asthma in young adults is associated with early age at onset of wheezing and impaired lung function during childhood, confirming that these important outcomes in adult asthma are determined early in childhood.
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