NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Neither the alpha1 antitrypsin (alpha1-AT) genotype nor low plasma alpha1-AT levels are associated with the development of asthma in children, according to a new report. Previous reports have suggested that alpha1-AT deficiency phenotypes might contribute to the risk of developing asthma and atopic diseases in children and adults, the authors explain.
Dr. Erika von Mutius from University Children’s Hospital, Munich, Germany and colleagues examined the relation between asthma and allergic disorder prevalence and severity and alpha1-AT Pi heterozygosity and alpha1-AT plasma levels in 5629 children aged 9 to 11 years.
Prevalence rates for asthma, for allergic and respiratory disorders, and for a family history of asthma or hay fever did not differ according to Pi genotype or average plasma levels of alpha1-AT, the authors report in the March Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Children with genotype PiMZ had a higher prevalence of bronchial hyperreactivity than did children with genotype PiMS, the report indicates, as did children with lower plasma levels of alpha1-AT.
Similarly, children with asthma or bronchial hyperreactivity who had low levels of alpha1-AT had significantly lower FEV1 and maximal expiratory flow (MEF50) rates than did asthmatic children who had higher levels of alpha1-AT.
In contrast, asthma severity was not affected by low alpha1-AT levels, the researchers note.
“This study proposes that heterozygous Pi genotypes or low levels of alpha1-AT in plasma do not enhance the risk of children developing asthma or hay fever,” the authors conclude.
“The findings suggest, however, than an impaired alpha1-AT balance may potentially increase the vulnerability for decrements in lung function and bronchial hyperreactivity in children who already have asthma, which needs to be confirmed or rejected by further investigations,” they say.
Source: Arch Dis Child 2004;89:230-231. [ Google search on this article ]
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