Clinical, functional, and epidemiological differences between atopic and nonatopic asthmatic children from a tertiary care hospital in a developing country

Abstract

Background: Differences between children with atopic asthma (AA) and nonatopic asthma (non-AA) have been shown in epidemiologic studies. In developing countries, even when non-AA is more prevalent than AA among schoolchildren, no data are available regarding clinical, functional, and epidemiological differences between these 2 groups. Objective: To evaluate differences between Chilean children with AA and non-AA. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, skin prick tests were performed on all patients (age range, 4-14 years) admitted to our tertiary care hospital with the diagnosis of asthma who were consequently classified as having AA or non-AA. Demographic characteristics, spirometry results, exercise bronchial challenge test results, and eosinophil counts measured in the last 12 months were recorded. Results: Among the 237 asthmatic children, 62.5% had AA. Non-AA children had a significantly earlier onset of asthma and a more frequent history of pneumonia and tobacco consumption at h