| Summary: | Bronchial asthma (BA) often develops in children with atopic dermatitis (AD). To clarify the usefulness of AD in infants as a predictor for the later development of BA, we examined the prevalence of and the risk factors for the later development of BA in infants with AD in four prefectures in Japan. We registered 157 infants with AD (100 boys and 57 girls) for the study and 151 infants (95 boys and 56 girls) were successfully followed up for a mean duration of 1 year. Atopic dermatitis was cured and improved in 23 and 70% of the patients, respectively, during the follow-up period. Boys developed mite allergy more frequently than did girls during the follow-up period (P<0.05). Twelve boys and two girls were diagnosed as having BA during the period, without any correlation with the outcome of the AD, and 12 boys developed wheezing but were not diagnosed as having BA by a physician. Male sex, a positive family history of BA, but not that of AD, and the appearance of mite-specific IgE during the follow-up period were identified as significant risk factors for the development of BA. The combination of a positive family history of BA and mite-specific IgE and the same combination in the boys had high specificity (55 and 56%, respectively) and sensitivity (60 and 50%, respectively) as risk factors. The data suggest the involvement of genetic factors in the early development of BA in young children with AD and indicate that AD in infants and young children with these risk factors is a useful predictor for the development of BA within a short period.
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