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. 2020 Jan 10;20(1):9.
doi: 10.1186/s12890-019-1040-2.

Age-specific incidence of allergic and non-allergic asthma

Johanna Pakkasela  1   2 , Pinja Ilmarinen  3 , Jasmin Honkamäki  4 , Leena E Tuomisto  3 , Heidi Andersén  5 , Päivi Piirilä  6 , Hanna Hisinger-Mölkänen  7 , Anssi Sovijärvi  6 , Helena Backman  8 , Bo Lundbäck  9 , Eva Rönmark  8 , Hannu Kankaanranta  4   3 , Lauri Lehtimäki  4   10
Affiliations

Age-specific incidence of allergic and non-allergic asthma

Johanna Pakkasela et al. BMC Pulm Med. .

Abstract

Background: Onset of allergic asthma has a strong association with childhood but only a few studies have analyzed incidence of asthma from childhood to late adulthood in relation to allergy. The purpose of the study was to assess age-specific incidence of allergic and non-allergic asthma.

Methods: Questionnaires were sent to 8000 randomly selected recipients aged 20-69 years in Finland in 2016. The response rate was 52.3% (n = 4173). The questionnaire included questions on e.g. atopic status, asthma and age at asthma diagnosis. Asthma was classified allergic if also a physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis was reported.

Results: The prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma and allergic rhinitis were 11.2 and 17.8%, respectively. Of the 445 responders with physician-diagnosed asthma, 52% were classified as allergic and 48% as non-allergic. Median ages at diagnosis of allergic and non-allergic asthma were 19 and 35 years, respectively. Among subjects with asthma diagnosis at ages 0-9, 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 60-69 years, 70, 62, 58, 53, 38, 19 and 33%, respectively, were allergic. For non-allergic asthma, the incidence rate was lowest in children and young adults (0.7/1000/year). It increased after middle age and was highest in older age groups (2.4/1000/year in 50-59 years old).

Conclusions: The incidence of allergic asthma is highest in early childhood and steadily decreases with advancing age, while the incidence of non-allergic asthma is low until it peaks in late adulthood. After approximately 40 years of age, most of the new cases of asthma are non-allergic.

Keywords: Adolescent; Adult; Age-specific; Allergic; Asthma; Child; Incidence; Non-allergic; Onset; Prevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study flow chart
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Incidence of new asthma diagnoses/1000 person-years divided into allergic (subjects with allergic rhinitis) and non-allergic (subjects without allergic rhinitis) cases in different age groups
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Relative proportions of allergic (subjects with allergic rhinitis) and non-allergic (subjects without allergic rhinitis) cases of new asthma diagnoses in different age groups
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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