Table 1.
Epidemiologic characteristics of the 89 children investigated in this study.
| Characteristics | Controls |
Asthma |
Rhinitis |
P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (n = 26) | (n = 35) | (n = 28) | ||
| Age (yr) | 5.6 ± 0.8 | 5.5 ± 0.9 | 5.9 ± 0.9 | 0.245 |
| Sex, male | 14 (53.8%) | 21 (60.0%) | 17 (60.7%) | 0.852 |
| Maternal atopy | 11 (42.3%) | 20 (64.5%) | 13 (46.4%) | 0.195 |
| Passive smoking | 10 (38.5%) | 14 (41.2%) | 13 (46.4%) | 0.832 |
| Household income | 0.379 | |||
| Low, ≤ 500,000 NTD | 10 (38.5%) | 13 (37.1%) | 10 (35.7%) | |
| Medium, 500,000–1,000,000 NTD | 12 (46.2%) | 16 (45.7%) | 9 (32.1%) | |
| High, > 1,000,000 NTD | 4 (23.5%) | 5 (14.3%) | 9 (32.1%) | |
| Allergen-specific IgE, kU/L | ||||
| D. pteronyssinus | 6.1 ± 20.5 | 31.4 ± 34.5 | 32.5 ± 39.7 | 0.013 |
| D. farinae | 4.6 ± 17.3 | 22.1 ± 28.0 | 21.5 ± 31.2 | 0.051 |
| Egg white | 0.3 ± 0.7 | 0.7 ± 1.1 | 0.4 ± 0.8 | 0.364 |
| Cow's milk | 0.2 ± 0.4 | 0.5 ± 0.7 | 0.3 ± 0.4 | 0.250 |
| Total serum IgE, kU/L | 88.3 ± 142.6 | 429.0 ± 591.3 | 313.0 ± 476.1 | 0.003 |
| Total fecal IgE, kU/L | 3.6 ± 7.9 | 7.0 ± 6.0 | 15.2 ± 27.7 | <0.001 |
Data shown are mean ± SD or number (%) of patients as appropriate. yr, year; NTD, New Taiwan Dollar; IgE, immunoglobulin E.