Sakai Rie, Wongkhomthong Som-arch, Marui Eiji
Department of Public Health, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Acta Paediatr. 2009 Mar;98(3):573-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2008.01130.x. Epub 2008 Nov 22.
To clarify the health-related conditions of Japanese expatriate children in Thailand.
Records of Japanese children who consulted outpatient clinics at Bangkok Hospital in 2005 and 2006 (n = 2141) were analysed, and then compared with data from the patient survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan in 2005 (n = 575 400).
'diseases of the respiratory system', categorized as chapter X under ICD-10 was the most frequent category in both Thailand and Japan. Although 'certain infectious and parasitic diseases' (chapter I) was the second most frequent category in Thailand, it was infrequent in Japan. In the subcategories of 'diseases of the respiratory system', 'acute upper respiratory infections' was frequent and asthma was infrequent in Thailand. Conversely, 'acute upper respiratory infections' showed a low percentage and asthma was the most frequently observed disease in Japan.
This study examined Japanese children having the same genetic background but divided into two groups according to different living environments. Results demonstrate that children living in Japan contract asthma more frequently than infectious diseases, whereas those living in Thailand show the opposite trend, which supports the hygiene hypothesis that infections may protect against the development of allergic diseases, such as asthma.
阐明在泰国的日本侨民儿童的健康相关状况。
对2005年和2006年在曼谷医院门诊就诊的日本儿童记录（n = 2141）进行分析，然后与日本厚生劳动省2005年进行的患者调查数据（n = 575400）进行比较。
国际疾病分类第十版（ICD - 10）中归类为第十章的“呼吸系统疾病”在泰国和日本都是最常见的类别。虽然“某些传染病和寄生虫病”（第一章）在泰国是第二常见的类别，但在日本并不常见。在“呼吸系统疾病”的子类别中，“急性上呼吸道感染”在泰国很常见，哮喘则不常见。相反，“急性上呼吸道感染”在日本所占比例较低，哮喘是日本最常观察到的疾病。
本研究调查了具有相同遗传背景但根据不同生活环境分为两组的日本儿童。结果表明，生活在日本的儿童患哮喘的频率高于传染病，而生活在泰国的儿童则呈现相反的趋势，这支持了感染可能预防诸如哮喘等过敏性疾病发生的卫生假说。
