NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Even among children at risk of allergies and asthma, those who have problems with wheezing before age 2 appear no more likely than others to have asthma as adults, a UK study suggests.

On the other hand, researchers found, when the breathing trouble crops up between age 2 and 5, it is likely to persist into adulthood.

In earlier research in the same study group, the investigators had found that most who wheezed as toddlers became symptom-free by age 11.

``We have now extended these observations to show that subjects younger than 2 years with wheeze were no more likely to become adults with asthma than those without wheeze,'' Dr. Helen L. Rhodes of Southampton General Hospital and colleagues report in the January issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

The researchers followed 63 individuals from birth to age 22, all of whom were at risk of allergy and asthma because one or both parents had asthma and/or hay fever.

The investigators found that 38% of those who had wheezing before age 2 also had the problem at age 11 or 22--the same proportion found among those who never wheezed before age 5. However, among those who started wheezing between ages 2 and 5, 80% still had the problem at age 11 or 22. Wheezing at age 11 was likely to persist into adulthood.

The research team also found that allergies to egg or milk before age 2 did not last. But reactions to airborne allergens such as pollen and dust grew increasingly common as children got older, and those with early food sensitivity were more likely to develop allergies to airborne triggers.

By the age of 22, 70% of the study group had allergies, according to the report.

``This finding,'' Rhodes and colleagues write, ``suggests that a single battery of skin prick tests cannot safely predict the life-long (allergy) status of an individual in childhood.''

SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

Reference Source 89

For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".