All issues > Volume 32(6); 1989

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1989;32(6):834-838. Published online June 30, 1989.

The Effect of Infantile Eczema on the Development of Allergic Diseases.

Hee Sup Kim¹, Chang Sung Lee¹, Sung Hwan Kim¹, Sang Il Lee¹, Sung Jae Suh², Pyung Nam Kim²

¹Department of Pediatrics, Paik Hospital Seoul, Inje University, Seoul, Korea
²School Health Center in Seoul , Seoul, Korea

Received: October 7, 1988;  Accepted: December 1, 1988.

Abstract

For the evaluation of the correlation between infantile eczema and other allergic disorders in childhood, we performed the study which included questionnaire and allergic skin test, in July through August, 1987. Eight hundred and thirty three students were selected randomly from the middle class in Seoul. All the materials were grouped into four; early primary school group (6-8 years of age; EPSG), late primary school group (9-11 years of age; LPSG), middle school group (12-14 years of age; MSG), and high school group (15-17 years of age; HSG). In general, the prevalence of infantile eczema was 26.1 % and that of asthma or wheezy bronchitis 10.8%. In case of skin prick test, when we included the materials which had larger reaction to any one of common respiratory allergens (house dust, house dust mite; D. pteronyssinus and D. farinae) in Korea than that to histamine, the positivity was 22-26% which was similar to prevalence of infantile eczema. Among the materials with infantile eczema, 21.6% has the clinical symptoms of bronchial asthma in EPSG which is significantly higher than 8.7% in non-eczema group (p < 0.005). But, in older age groups, the prevalence of asthma was similar in eczema and non-eczema group (p > 0.05). This suggests that skin hyperreactivity might have certain effects on the development of respiratory hyperreactivity in EPSG, and that functional development by age, for example immunologic development, may control the development of allergic disorders. on the other hand, skin test positivity did not have any significant difference between eczema and non-eczema of all age groups. This suggests that skin irritability might not affect the specific allergy skin test.

Keywords :AlIergic Development, Eczema, Asthma, Skin Test