Montefort Stephen, Muscat Hugo Agius, Caruana Simone, Lenicker Herbert
Department of Medicine, St. Luke's Hospital, Malta.
Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2002 Apr;13(2):98-104. doi: 10.1034/j.1399-3038.2002.00063.x.
Allergic conditions, especially asthma, seem to be increasingly common worldwide. The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) was the first study carried out worldwide using standardized questionnaires in order to create a reliable global map of childhood allergy. The Maltese Islands were one of the centres that participated in this study and in this article the data obtained from 3,506 5-8-year-old children from 24 state schools (78.5% response rate), and also data obtained from some added 'local' questions addressed to the same children, were analyzed in order to evaluate the problem of allergic conditions in Maltese schoolchildren. Of the participants, 19.1% were wheezers 'ever,' while 8.8% were current wheezers. Of the latter, 15.9% experienced nocturnal wheezing at least once a week and 13.3% had a wheezing episode of sufficient severity to limit speech. Nasal problems were present in 23.4% of these children, and in 20.7% of all respondents these symptoms persisted up to the year of answering the questionnaire. Hay fever had been diagnosed in 14.7% of all the children. Seven per cent of respondents had a recurrent, itchy rash (suggestive of eczema) for at least 6 months of their lives and 5.5.% had it currently. The prevalence of wheezing and eczema were slightly lower than the global mean, unlike rhinitis which in Malta was commoner than the world average. Multiple variables, such as gender, breast-feeding, passive smoking, family history of atopy, pets, soft furnishings, and living next to busy roads, were factors that affected the prevalence and severity of the allergic conditions studied. In conclusion, allergic conditions are very common in Maltese schoolchildren and cause great hardship to these same youngsters. The results of this study should serve as a stimulus to try to decrease this suffering through better management of these conditions, measures to control identified detrimental factors (such as passive smoking), and further research on asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema.
过敏性疾病，尤其是哮喘，在全球范围内似乎越来越普遍。“儿童哮喘和过敏国际研究”（ISAAC）是全球首次使用标准化问卷进行的研究，目的是绘制出可靠的全球儿童过敏地图。马耳他群岛是参与这项研究的中心之一，在本文中，分析了从24所国立学校的3506名5至8岁儿童（回复率78.5%）获得的数据，以及向这些儿童提出的一些补充“本地”问题所获得的数据，以评估马耳他学龄儿童的过敏状况问题。在参与者中，19.1%的人“曾经”有过喘息，而8.8%的人目前有喘息症状。在后者中，15.9%的人每周至少经历一次夜间喘息，13.3%的人有严重到足以限制说话的喘息发作。23.4%的这些儿童存在鼻腔问题，在所有受访者中，20.7%的人这些症状一直持续到回答问卷的年份。14.7%的儿童被诊断出患有花粉热。7%的受访者一生中至少有6个月出现复发性瘙痒皮疹（提示湿疹），5.5%的人目前患有湿疹。喘息和湿疹的患病率略低于全球平均水平，与鼻炎不同，在马耳他，鼻炎比世界平均水平更为常见。多种变量，如性别、母乳喂养、被动吸烟、特应性家族史、宠物、软装以及居住在繁忙道路附近，都是影响所研究的过敏状况的患病率和严重程度的因素。总之，过敏状况在马耳他学龄儿童中非常普遍，并给这些青少年带来极大的困扰。这项研究结果应促使人们努力通过更好地管理这些状况、采取措施控制已确定的有害因素（如被动吸烟）以及对哮喘、过敏性鼻炎和湿疹进行进一步研究来减轻这种痛苦。
