Student Research Committee, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
Non-Communicable Pediatric Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
Allergol Immunopathol (Madr). 2021 Jan 2;49(1):25-31. doi: 10.15586/aei.v49i1.15. eCollection 2021.
Besides the well-known risk factors, Toxocara infection is thought to play a significant etiological role in the development of childhood asthma. To further explore this association, the prevalence of Toxocara infection in sera of asthmatic children and healthy controls in northern Iran was investigated.
In this case-control study, cases were 145 physician-confirmed asthmatic children diagnosed according to the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines. Controls were 115 age-sex-residence-matched children who did not have physician-diagnosed asthma. The presence of anti-Toxocara immunoglobulin G (IgG) was tested using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression methods were used for case-control comparisons.
Seropositivity rate was 4.1% (95% CI, 3.4-4.7%) in asthmatic children and 0.86% (95% CI, 0.71-1.0%) in controls, suggesting a strong association (P-value < 0.02). Moreover, Toxocara infection was not significantly more prevalent (P-value = 0.12) in children with moderate sustainable asthma (9.3%, 3/32) than in children with mild sustainable asthma (2.3%, 3/113). Mean total immunoglobulin E (IgE) level was significantly higher in Toxocara-infected children (222.3 ± 367.1) than in non-infected children (143.19 ± 218.05) in the case group (P-value < 0.05).
Our findings indicated that Toxocara infection can play an important role in childhood asthma. Further experimental and epidemiological studies are needed to clarify this hypothesis.
除了众所周知的危险因素外，旋毛虫感染被认为在儿童哮喘的发展中起着重要的病因作用。为了进一步探讨这种关联，研究人员在伊朗北部调查了哮喘儿童和健康对照者血清中旋毛虫感染的流行情况。
在这项病例对照研究中，病例为 145 名经医生确诊的哮喘儿童，这些儿童根据全球哮喘倡议（GINA）指南进行诊断。对照组为 115 名年龄、性别、居住地相匹配且未经医生诊断患有哮喘的儿童。使用酶联免疫吸附试验检测抗旋毛虫免疫球蛋白 G（IgG）的存在。采用单变量和多变量逻辑回归方法进行病例对照比较。
哮喘儿童的血清阳性率为 4.1%（95%CI，3.4-4.7%），对照组为 0.86%（95%CI，0.71-1.0%），表明存在强烈的关联（P 值<0.02）。此外，中度持续哮喘（9.3%，3/32）患儿的旋毛虫感染率（12%，3/32）与轻度持续哮喘患儿（2.3%，3/113）相比差异无统计学意义（P 值=0.12）。病例组中，旋毛虫感染患儿的总免疫球蛋白 E（IgE）水平（222.3±367.1）明显高于未感染患儿（143.19±218.05）（P 值<0.05）。
我们的研究结果表明，旋毛虫感染可能在儿童哮喘中起重要作用。需要进一步的实验和流行病学研究来阐明这一假设。
