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Intervention Lowers Mite Allergen Sensitisation in High-Risk Children
A DGReview of :"Randomized Trial to Prevent Sensitization to Mite Allergens in Toddlers and Preschoolers by Allergen Reduction and Education: One-Year Results"
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
11/12/2002
By Elda Hauschildt
Use of mattress encasements can reduce sensitisation to mite allergens in pre-school children of parents with atopic disorders.
One year after the introduction of dust mite avoidance measures, a team of European researchers from Greece, Lithuania, the United Kingdom and Germany found the incidence of mite allergen sensitisation in high-risk children of parents participating in the intervention group was half that of control children.
Mean age of participating children was 3.1 years.
Only 10 of 330 children (3 percent) in the intervention arm of the multi-centre, environmental intervention trial were sensitised to mite allergens after one-year. This compared to 20 of 306 control children (6.5 percent).
"This simple, harmless and inexpensive measure can be used in toddlers and preschoolers of parents with atopic disorders to reduce sensitisation to mite allergens," say investigators with the Study on Prevention of Allergy in Children in Europe (SPACE).
All of the parents received background information on why their children were at higher risk. Parents in the intervention group received a booklet outlining environmental influences on child health and detailing preventive recommendations. A similar booklet without information on mattress covers was given to parents in the control group.
A total of 566 children (89 percent) participated in the first-year follow-up testing.
The researchers report allergic symptoms were more common in sensitised than non-sensitised children. Prevalence of doctor-diagnosed asthma, eczema and food allergy was also higher in the sensitised children.
Follow-up studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of the intervention on clinical manifestations of atopy, they add.
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2002; 156: 1021-1027.
"Randomized Trial to Prevent Sensitization to Mite Allergens in Toddlers and Preschoolers by Allergen Reduction and Education: One-Year Results"
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