Table 3. Association Between Early Life Factors and Atopic Eczema Activity Subtypes as Compared With the Early Onset/Decreasing Subtype for the 1958 and 1970 Cohorts Meta-analysis (N = 30 905 across all classes).

Characteristic	Atopic eczema, OR (95% CI)
	High vs decreasing	Increasing vs decreasing
Sex
Male	1 [Reference]	1 [Reference]
Female	1.99 (1.66-2.38)	1.99 (1.69-2.35)
Ethnicity
European, White	1 [Reference]	1 [Reference]
Other	0.86 (0.47-1.58)	0.84 (0.51-1.38)
Region of early childhood residencea
Southern England	1 [Reference]	1 [Reference]
Central England/Wales	1.26 (1.01-1.56)	1.10 (0.90-1.36)
Northern England/Scotland	1.18 (0.95-1.47)	1.19 (0.97-1.45)
Highest social class in childhoodb,c
I/II	1 [Reference]	1 [Reference]
III	0.86 (0.71-1.03)	1.14 (0.95-1.36)
IV/V	0.90 (0.61-1.32)	1.58 (1.13-2.21)
Household size in early childhood
≤3 Persons	1 [Reference]	1 [Reference]
>3 Persons	1.08 (0.79-1.47)	0.98 (0.75-1.30)
In utero smoke exposure
No	1 [Reference]	1 [Reference]
Any	0.83 (0.68-1.03)	0.91 (0.76-1.10)
Childhood smoke exposure
No	1 [Reference]	1 [Reference]
Any	0.99 (0.79-1.23)	0.96 (0.79-1.18)
Birth weight, per kg increase	1.08 (0.90-1.28)	0.92 (0.79-1.08)
Breastfeeding
No	1 [Reference]	1 [Reference]
Any	1.16 (0.95-1.41)	0.98 (0.82-1.17)

Abbreviation: OR, odds ratio.

^aRegion of early childhood residence: overall P values are .10 for high vs decreasing atopic eczema and .24 for increasing vs decreasing atopic eczema.

^bRegistrar General’s social class: I, professional; II, managerial and technical; III, skilled; IV, partly skilled; V, unskilled.

^cHighest social class in childhood: overall P values are .27 for high vs decreasing atopic eczema and .02 for increasing vs decreasing atopic eczema.