Prevalence and comorbidity of allergic eczema, rhinitis, and asthma in a city in western Turkey.

BACKGROUND

Allergic diseases co-occur in many patients. There is no published population-based epidemiologic study about allergic diseases in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this population-based study was to investigate the prevalence of allergic eczema, allergic rhinitis, and asthma and their co-occurence in Manisa.

METHODS

The sample size was calculated using an estimated prevalence of ever wheezing for the analyzed age group. Interviews were conducted with 725 children. The survey instrument consisted of a set of sociodemographic questions plus the questionnaire of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood.

RESULTS

The mean (SD) age of the children studied was 8.94 (5.16) years. The prevalence of ever having allergic eczema was 4.7% whereas that of current allergic eczema was 3.2%. Current allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis were present in 14.5% and 13%, respectively. Asthma was reported in 14.7% of the children older than 3 years of age while the prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma was 7.9%. The burden of allergy was 27.1%. The prevalence of concomitant eczema and rhinitis was 1.9%. Among children aged between 3 and 17 years, 1.5% and 4.7% had asthma along with eczema and rhinitis respectively. Asthma was significantly more common in children with rhinitis (31.5% vs 11.8%; P < .01; odds ratio [OR], 3.45). Asthma was diagnosed in 28.1% of children with eczema and 14% of children without eczema (P = .03; OR, 2.41).

CONCLUSIONS

Atopic diseases seem to significantly increase the risk of developing another atopic disease with ORs that range from 2.4 to 3.4.