Persistence of increased nonspecific bronchial reactivity in allergic children and adolescents

Nonspecific bronchial reactivity (BR) is commonly associated with asthma. It can be found, however, in subjects with allergic rhinitis. Studies have not been done looking at changes in nonspecific BR in allergic children over time. Therefore, we report on our longitudinal study of BR in allergic children and adolescents. The reported subjects are part of a larger ongoing study in a selected population of families with asthma and of twins. Initiated in 1972, the subjects reported in this study are subjects who have had at least one follow-up visit through 1989 and did not have asthma, but had allergic histories at either their initial visit or follow-up visits. Subjects completed a questionnaire, had skin tests, determination of a serum IgE level, and a determination of nonspecific BR with a methacholine challenge. Subjects were 6 years of age or older or 21 years of age or younger at initial visit. Subjects from families with asthma (N=76; mean age, 12.09 years; ±4.6 SD) and twins (N=36; mean age, 11.81 years; ±3.81 SD) were followed longitudinally, and their age at follow-up visits was not restricted. In this study we observed that, of 106 subjects, 66% initially demonstrated nonspecific BR. At their first and second follow-up visits, 70.4% and 61.3% demonstrated persistence of their BR. These data demonstrate that allergic children and adolescents have increased nonspecific BR. There was not a significant loss of BR over time in the studied subjects.