The study gathered data from the 1968, 1974, and 2004 surveys of the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health which included more than 8,500 people, aged 7 to 44 years.

Lead author John Burgess, MD, Melbourne School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, says the study is the first to demonstrate an association between childhood eczema and asthma into middle age.

The study found that childhood eczema was significantly associated with childhood asthma and with incident asthma in preadolescence (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-2.75), adolescence (HR = 2.14; 95% CI, 1.33-3.46), and adult life (HR = 1.63; 95% CI, 1.28-2.09). Childhood eczema was significantly associated with asthma persisting from childhood to middle age (relative risk, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.17-2.04).

"The incidence of asthma in people from the ages of 8 to 44 who had childhood eczema, was nearly double that of people who had never had eczema," Dr. Burgess said.

He added that the study's findings also supported the concept of the atopic march, in which eczema is often the first step in an allergic process that leads on to asthma or hay fever in later life.

"The results of our study showed childhood eczema clearly preceded asthma in each later stage of life -- later childhood, adolescence, and adulthood," Dr. Burgess said. "This makes a strong argument for trialing aggressive therapies against childhood eczema to help reduce the burden of asthma later in life."

SOURCE: University of Melbourne

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