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. 2013 Oct;132(4):830-5.e1-2.
doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2013.05.005. Epub 2013 Jun 26.

Mouse allergen is the major allergen of public health relevance in Baltimore City

Sharon K Ahluwalia  1 , Roger D Peng, Patrick N Breysse, Gregory B Diette, Jean Curtin-Brosnan, Charles Aloe, Elizabeth C Matsui
Affiliations

Mouse allergen is the major allergen of public health relevance in Baltimore City

Sharon K Ahluwalia et al. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Cockroach and mouse allergens have both been implicated as causes in inner-city asthma morbidity in multicenter studies, but whether both allergens are clinically relevant within specific inner-city communities is unclear.

Objective: Our study aimed to identify relevant allergens in Baltimore City.

Methods: One hundred forty-four children (5-17 years old) with asthma underwent skin prick tests at baseline and had clinical data collected at baseline and 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Home settled dust samples were collected at the same time points for quantification of indoor allergens. Participants were grouped based on their sensitization and exposure status to each allergen. All analyses were adjusted for age, sex, and serum total IgE level.

Results: Forty-one percent were mouse sensitized/exposed, and 41% were cockroach sensitized/exposed based on bedroom floor exposure data. Mouse sensitization/exposure was associated with acute care visits, decreased FEV1/forced vital capacity percentage values, fraction of exhaled nitric oxide levels, and bronchodilator reversibility. Cockroach sensitization/exposure was only associated with acute care visits and bronchodilator reversibility when exposure was defined by using bedroom floor allergen levels. Mouse-specific IgE levels were associated with poor asthma health across a range of outcomes, whereas cockroach-specific IgE levels were not. The relationships between asthma outcomes and mouse allergen were independent of cockroach allergen. Although sensitization/exposure to both mouse and cockroach was generally associated with worse asthma, mouse sensitization/exposure was the primary contributor to these relationships.

Conclusions: In a community with high levels of both mouse and cockroach allergens, mouse allergen appears to be more strongly and consistently associated with poor asthma outcomes than cockroach allergen. Community-level asthma interventions in Baltimore should prioritize reducing mouse allergen exposure.

Keywords: FVC; Feno; Forced vital capacity; Fraction of exhaled nitric oxide; Inner-city asthma; PR; Prevalence ratio; childhood asthma; cockroach allergen; indoor allergens; mouse allergen.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: R. D. Peng has received royalties from Springer Publishing. G. B. Diette has been supported by one or more grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/Environmental Protection Agency and has consultancy arrangements with GlaxoSmithKline and Fenzian. E. C. Matsui has been supported by one or more grants from the NIH and has received a Phadia Research Form Award. The rest of the authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIG 1
FIG 1
Predicted percentage of subjects with an acute care visit for asthma over a 3-month period. Sensitization and exposure groups using exposure data from bed dust samples are plotted on the x-axis. Mouse − represents those without the combination of sensitization and exposure for mouse allergen, and Mouse + represents those with the combination of sensitization and exposure to mouse allergen. The same is true for each of the other allergens. The predicted percentage of subjects with an acute care visit over 3 months is plotted on the y-axis. Significant comparisons are labeled with P values.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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