Table 2.

Demographic characteristics of the population.

	Study population (n = 1064)
Variables	Asthmatics (n = 428)	Healthy controls (n = 636)	P value
Age‡	36·2 ± 18·2 (8–84 years)	35·7 ± 18·0 (8–89 years)	0·68
Gender, female (%)	266 (62·1)	359 (56·4)	0·07
Duration of asthma	17·9 ± 14·7	–	–
Total IgE, IU/ml†	754·2 (251–1075)	129·7 (47–326·3)	< 0·001
IgE to Blomia tropicalis (OD)‡	0·886 ± 1·1	0·160 ± 0·2	< 0·001
IgE to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (OD)‡	0·575 ± 0·8	0·146 ± 0·2	< 0·001
Mite sensitized (%)	339 (79·2)	207 (32·5)	< 0·001
Nematode Ig levels (OD)‡
IgE to Ascaris	0·194 ± 0·26	0·137 ± 0·11	< 0·001
IgE to rABA-1	0·184 ± 0·17	0·152 ± 0·11	< 0·001
IgG to Ascaris	2·01 ± 0·54	2·10 ± 0·62	0·01
IgG to ABA-1	1·49 ± 0·50	1·73 ± 0·58	< 0·001

^†Median (interquartile range).

^‡Mean ± standard deviation; OD, optical density units; Ig, immunoglobulin.