scholarly journals A Systematic Review of the Prevalence of Atopic Diseases in Children on the Arabian Peninsula

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 436-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waleed Al-Herz

Objectives: To study the available data on the prevalence of atopic diseases and food allergy in children living on the Arabian Peninsula. Methods: A PubMed search for relevant published articles was conducted using the following search terms singly or in combination: “atopy,” “atopic disease,” “atopic disorder,” “International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood,” “ISAAC,” “asthma,” “allergic rhinitis,” “eczema,” and “food allergy” in combination with the names of countries of the Arabian Peninsula (Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Yemen). The search captured studies published up to December 2017. Results: A total of 8 publications reporting prevalence rates of any type of atopic disease in children in 7 countries of the Arabian Peninsula were retrieved. The prevalence of all atopic disorders was comparable between countries of the Arabian Peninsula. The overall prevalence of asthma ranged from 8 to 23%, while the reported prevalence of eczema ranged from 7.5 to 22.5%. There was great variation in the prevalence rates of rhinoconjunctivitis, which ranged from 6.3 to 30.5%. The prevalence of food allergy (8.1%) was reported for 1 country only, the United Arab Emirates. Conclusions: The reported overall rates of atopic disease in countries of the Arabian Peninsula are comparable to those reported in other industrialized countries. This is probably related to the good economic status in the region, which is reflected in the living standards and lifestyle. Further, genetic factors, such as factors related to gene polymorphism, and the high rate of consanguinity in the region may contribute to the higher prevalence of atopic diseases.

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-288
Author(s):  
Mohammed Shamssain ◽  
Anisa Alhamadi ◽  
Siba Nezar Al Afandi ◽  
Tasneem Naeem Awadallah ◽  
Shatha Naeem Awadallah

Very few studies have been carried out on asthma and allergies in pre-schoolchildren. This is the first study of pre-school children with asthma and allergies in the United Arab Emirates. We studied 4,000 pre-schoolchildren from the United Arab Emirates: Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and Al-Ain. The ages of the study group were between 1-5 years, and were 2,000 boys and 2,000 girls; they were randomly selected from kindergartens and nurseries. We used the standardised International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire. The mean (SD) age, height, weight and BMI were 3.3 (1.4) years, 92.0 (1.3) cm, 17.3 (5.2) kg, and 23.4 (9.3). The prevalence rates of “wheeze ever”, “current wheeze”, “speech limitation”, “asthma” , “dry night cough”, and “exercise-induced asthma” were 40.4%, 43.8%, 37.6%, 26.5%, 36.1, and 37.6%, respectively. Boys had a significantly higher prevalence of wheeze ever and current wheeze than girls. Girls had a significantly higher prevalence of speech limitation than boys. The prevalence rates of “rhinitis ever”, “current rhinitis”, “itchy watery eyes” and “hay fever” were 42%, 40.5%, 39.1% and 46.9%, respectively. Boys had significantly higher prevalence rates of “rhinitis ever”, “current rhinitis”, and “itchy watery eyes” than girls. The prevalence rates of “rash ever”, “current rash” and “eczema ever” were 38.9%, 33.7% and 58.0%, respectively. Boys had significantly higher prevalence rates of rash ever, current rash, and eczema ever than girls. Children who were exposed to parental smoking have significantly higher prevalence rates of asthma, wheezing, and cough than those whom were not exposed. Children who breastfed more than 10 months had a significantly lower prevalence rates of “wheeze ever”, “current wheeze”, “speech limitation”, and “asthma”, than those whom breastfed less than 10 months. The prevalence rates of asthma, rhinitis and eczema were very high. Breastfeeding was found to be protective for asthma. The study can be used as a baseline intervention project to reduce incidents of asthma and allergies in these children and to establish atopic march in order to implement strategies to improve the respiratory health and allergies in these children. Keywords: asthma, wheeze, night cough, rhinitis, eczema, pre-school children, paediatric asthma


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyssa Sweeney ◽  
Vanitha Sampath ◽  
Kari C. Nadeau

Abstract Background Atopic diseases, such as atopic dermatitis (AD) and food allergy (FA), have increased in prevalence in industrialized countries during the past few decades and pose a significant health burden. They appear to have a common underlying mechanism and a natural disease progression. AD is generally the first atopic disease to manifest followed by other atopic diseases, such as FA, allergic rhinitis, or allergic asthma suggesting that they are likely different manifestations of the same disease. Body Evidence suggests that allergic sensitization occurs through an impaired skin barrier, while consumption of these foods at an early age may actually result in tolerance. This has been termed the Dual-Allergen-Exposure hypothesis. Loss of barrier integrity has been hypothesized to enable penetration of allergens, pollutants, and microbes and initiation of an inflammatory immune cascade of events leading to sensitization. The immune dysfunction is thought to further exacerbate the impaired skin barrier to form a vicious cycle. There is much interest in preventing or protecting the skin barrier from developing a proinflammatory atopic state, which may potentially lead to the development of AD and subsequently, FA. Conclusion Research on preventing or treating skin barrier dysfunction is ongoing. A number of studies have evaluated the efficacy of emollients in preventing AD and FA with mixed results. Studies have differed in the study design, population characteristics, emollients type, and frequency, duration, and area of application. Emollient type has varied widely from oils, creams, petrolatum-based lotions, and trilipid creams. Current research is directed towards the use of trilipid emollients that are similar to the skin’s natural lipid composition with a 3:1:1 ratio of ceramides, cholesterol and free fatty acids and a pH that is similar to that of skin to determine their effectiveness for skin barrier repair and prevention of AD and FA.


1970 ◽  
pp. 56-63
Author(s):  
Tim Walters ◽  
Susan Swan ◽  
Ron Wolfe ◽  
John Whiteoak ◽  
Jack Barwind

The United Arab Emirates is a smallish Arabic/Islamic country about the size of Maine located at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Though currently oil dependent, the country is moving rapidly from a petrocarbon to a people-based economy. As that economy modernizes and diversifies, the country’s underlying social ecology is being buffeted. The most significant of the winds of change that are blowing include a compulsory, free K-12 education system; an economy shifting from extractive to knowledge-based resources; and movement from the almost mythic Bedouin-inspired lifestyle to that of a sedentary highly urbanized society. Led by resource-rich Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the federal government has invested heavily in tourism, aviation, re-export commerce, free trade zones, and telecommunications. The Emirate of Dubai, in particular, also has invested billions of dirhams in high technology. The great dream is that educated and trained Emiratis will replace the thousands of foreign professionals now running the newly emerging technology and knowledge-driven economy.


Thorax ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 477-481
Author(s):  
T Melsom ◽  
L Brinch ◽  
J O Hessen ◽  
M A Schei ◽  
N Kolstrup ◽  
...  

BACKGROUNDThe development of asthma seems to be influenced by the adoption of a Western lifestyle. A study was undertaken to assess the importance of indoor environmental factors in Nepal where the lifestyle and home environment differ from that in the West.METHODSThe home environment of 121 schoolchildren with asthma and 126 controls aged 11–17 years was studied. The homes of all participants were investigated and the children and their mothers were interviewed using a standardised questionnaire. Cases and controls were identified from an ISAAC (International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood) based population study of 2330 schoolchildren in Kathmandu, Nepal.RESULTSKeeping cattle inside the house during the night was related to a lower risk for having asthma (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.2 (95% CI 0.1 to 0.5)) while there was no association between asthma and cattle kept outside. Asthma was associated with cigarette smoking by two or more family members (OR 1.9 (95% CI 1.0 to 3.9)) and with the domestic use of smoky fuels (OR 2.2 (95% CI 1.0 to 4.5)). In analyses stratified by sex, passive smoking and the use of smoky fuels were significantly associated with asthma only in boys.CONCLUSIONSThe risk of asthma in Nepalese children was lower in subjects exposed to cattle kept inside the house and higher in subjects exposed to passive smoking and indoor use of smoky fuels. Childhood exposure to microorganisms or allergens from cattle may protect against the development of atopic disease.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (9) ◽  
pp. 1147-1153
Author(s):  
Fatima Ali Mazahir ◽  
Manal Mustafa Khadora

AbstractObjectivesWe evaluated the spectrum of diseases accompanying congenital hypothyroidism (CH) in the United Arab Emirates and compared them with internationally studied patterns.MethodsThe presented retrospective cross-sectional study took place in two government tertiary care centres. In total, 204 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of CH and a minimum period of follow-up of 1 year were included. Patients with Down syndrome, infants born at <35 weeks of gestation, and babies with TORCH (Toxoplasma gondii, Other viruses [HIV, measles, etc.], Rubella, Cytomegalovirus, and Herpes simplex) infections were subsequently excluded from the study.ResultsOf the subjects with CH, 39% had associated extrathyroidal anomalies (ETAs); among these, 25% had a single anomaly. A significant proportion of Arab males were affected by CH as compared to other ethnic groups. Dyshormonogenesis was the commonest aetiological cause (55%) of CH. Males with an ectopic lingual thyroid gland had significant ETAs as compared to females of the same cohort. The most common ETAs were congenital heart disease (16%), followed by urogenital tract anomalies (14%).ConclusionsDetection of a high rate and variability of ETAs associated with CH necessitates the formulation of a structured screening programme including appropriate clinical, laboratory, and imaging tools to detect ETAs at an earlier stage.


2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 2213-2233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeska Marinho ◽  
Jerson Laks ◽  
Evandro Silva Freire Coutinho ◽  
Sergio Luís Blay

The aim of this study was to combine the results of identified surveys on the prevalence of tobacco use in old age to estimate world prevalence of tobacco use and possible factors related to such behavior among the elderly. The literature search included electronic databases such as MEDLINE, LILACS, and Biological Abstracts, hand-searching of specialist journals and cited reference searches. The combined global prevalence was estimated using the random effects model. The total number of elderly subjects included in all surveys was 140,058, with data available from all the continents. Overall prevalence of tobacco use was 13% in both genders (22% male and 8% female). The prevalence rates were heterogeneous among surveys and were associated with smoking definition, questionnaire application, and country economic status. Few epidemiological studies assessed tobacco use among the elderly. A higher prevalence rate of tobacco use in males who live in higher income countries could be found, although additional evidence regarding elderly samples is still required.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-63
Author(s):  
AKM Akramul Haque ◽  
AHM Kazi Mostofa Kamal ◽  
Zinat De Laila ◽  
Luna Laila ◽  
Helal Uddin Ahmed ◽  
...  

Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric illness with high rate of relapse which is commonly associated with noncompliance of medicine, as well as stress and high expressed emotions. The objective of the study was to determine the factors of relapse among the schizophrenic patients attending in outpatient departments of three tertiary level psychiatric facilities in Bangladesh. This was a cross sectional study conducted from July, 2001 to June, 2002. Two hundred patients including both relapse and nonrelapse cases of schizophrenia and their key relatives were included by purposive sampling. The results showed no statistically significant difference in terms of relapse with age, sex, religion, residence, occupation and level of education (p>0.05), but statistically significant difference was found with marital status and economic status (p<0.01). The proportion of non-compliance was found to be 80% and 14%, of high expressed emotion was 17% and 2% and of the occurrence of stressful life events was 10% and 1% in relapse and non-relapse cases respectively which were statistically significant (p<0.001). The study indicated that stressful life events, high expressed emotion, and noncompliance with medication had a role in schizophrenic patients for its relapse.Bang J Psychiatry December 2015; 29(2): 59-63


2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (Suppl. 2) ◽  
pp. 38-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Cabana

Asthma, eczema, food allergy, and allergic rhinitis are some of the most common pediatric, chronic conditions in the world. Breastfeeding is the optimal way to feed all infants. For those infants who are exposed to infant formula, some studies suggest that certain partially hydrolyzed or extensively hydrolyzed formulas may decrease the risk of allergic disease compared to nonhydrolyzed formulas for children with a family history of atopic disease. Overall, there is some evidence to suggest that partially hydrolyzed whey formulas and extensively hydrolyzed casein formulas may decrease the risk of developing eczema for infants at high risk of allergic disease. The evidence for a preventive effect of hydrolyzed formulas on allergic rhinitis, food allergy, and asthma is inconsistent and insufficient. Finally, the qualitative changes to the peptides by the method of hydrolysis, not just the degree of protein hydrolysis, may have a large influence on the preventive effect of a particular infant formula for the potential risk of allergic disease. As a result, it may be difficult to generalize findings from clinical studies using a specific infant formula to other infant formulas from different manufacturers using different methods of hydrolysis. Further clinical studies are needed to help clinicians identify which infants may benefit from early intervention, as well as which specific hydrolyzed formulas are best suited to decrease the risk of future allergic disease.


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