Table 2.
Distributions of helminthic infections, atopy markers, and exercise-induced bronchospasm between wheeze cases and non-wheeze controls by area of residence. P values were calculated using the χ2 test adjusted for clustering. A. lumbricoides – infections with Ascaris lumbricoides. T. trichiura – infections with Trichuris trichiura. SPT – allergen skin test reactivity. HDM – to D. pteronyssinus/D. farinae mix. Missing values for rural/urban areas were as follows: geohelminth infections (14/7), SPT to any allergen and HDM (3/3), SPT to cockroach (3/4), and exercise-induced bronchospasm (13/3)
| Rural | P value | Urban | P value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | Non-wheeze controls N = 227 | Wheeze cases N = 149 | Non-wheeze controls N = 120 | Wheeze cases N = 104 | ||
| Helminth markers | ||||||
| Any geohelminth infection | ||||||
| Negative | 61 (27.60) | 39 (27.46) | 72 (61.54) | 56 (56) | ||
| Positive | 160 (72.40) | 103 (72.54) | 0.7 | 45 (38.46) | 44 (44) | 0.408 |
| A. lumbricoides | ||||||
| Negative | 116 (52.49) | 77 (54.23) | 94 (80.34) | 86 (86) | ||
| Positive | 105 (47.51) | 65 (45.77) | 0.8 | 23 (19.66) | 14 (14) | 0.269 |
| T. trichura | ||||||
| Negative | 92 (41.63) | 60 (41.96) | 86 (73.50) | 61 (61) | ||
| Positive | 129 (58.37) | 82 (57.75) | 0.95 | 31 (26.50) | 39 (39) | 0.05 |
| Anti-Ascaris IgE | ||||||
| <0.70 KU/L | 97 (42.73) | 33 (22.3) | 91 (75.83) | 51 (49.04) | ||
| ≥0.70 KU/L | 130 (57.27) | 115 (77.7) | < 0.0001 | 29 (24.17) | 53 (50.96) | 0.0001 |
| Atopy | ||||||
| SPT to any allergen | ||||||
| Negative | 194 (85.46) | 118 (79.73) | 110 (91.67) | 72 (71.29) | ||
| Positive | 33 (14.54) | 30 (20.27) | 0.147 | 10 (8.33) | 29 (28.71) | < 0.0001 |
| SPT to HDM | ||||||
| Negative | 209 (92.07) | 127 (85.81) | 112 (93.33) | 78 (77.23) | ||
| Positive | 18 (7.93) | 21 (14.19) | 0.05 | 8 (6.67) | 23 (22.77) | 0.001 |
| SPT to cockroach | ||||||
| Negative | 212 (93.39) | 138 (93.24) | 118 (98.33) | 93 (93) | ||
| Positive | 15 (6.61) | 10 (6.76) | 0.955 | 2 (1.67) | 7 (7) | 0.047 |
| Anti-HDM IgE | ||||||
| <0.70 KU/L | 191 (83.41) | 114 (76.51) | 107 (89.17) | 70 (67.31) | ||
| ≥0.70 KU/L | 38 (16.59) | 34 (22.49) | 0.13 | 13 (10.83) | 34 (32.69) | < 0.0001 |
| Anti-cockroach IgE | ||||||
| <0.70 KU/L | 197 (86.03) | 122 (81.88) | 104 (86.67) | 83 (79.81) | ||
| ≥0.70 KU/L | 31 (13.66) | 26 (17.57) | 0.30 | 16 (13.33) | 21 (20.19) | 0.168 |
| Exercise-induced bronchospasm | ||||||
| No | 213 (96.4) | 122 (85.9) | 91 (75.8) | 70 (69.3) | ||
| Yes | 8 (3.6) | 20 (14.1) | < 0.0001 | 29 (24.2) | 31 (30.7) | 0.28 |