Lack of Consistent Association between Asthma, Allergic Diseases, and Intestinal Helminth Infection in School-Aged Children in the Province of Bengo, Angola

Margarete Arrais, Ofélia Lulua, Francisca Quifica, José Rosado-Pinto, Jorge M. R. Gama, Philip J. Cooper, Luis Taborda-Barata and Miguel Brito
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Margarete Arrais: Department of Pulmonology, Military Hospital, Luanda 12195, Angola
Ofélia Lulua: Department of Pulmonology, Military Hospital, Luanda 12195, Angola
Francisca Quifica: Department of Pulmonology, Military Hospital, Luanda 12195, Angola
José Rosado-Pinto: Department of Immunoallergology, Hospital da Luz, 1500-650 Lisbon, Portugal
Jorge M. R. Gama: Center of Mathematics and Applications, Faculty of Sciences, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
Philip J. Cooper: Institute of Infection and Immunity, St George’s University of London, London SW17 0RE, UK
Luis Taborda-Barata: Department of Immunoallergology, Cova da Beira University Hospital Centre, 6200-001 Covilhã, Portugal
Miguel Brito: CISA—Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Angola/Health Research Center of Angola, Caxito 9999, Angola

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-14

Abstract: Epidemiological studies have shown conflicting findings on the relationship between asthma, atopy, and intestinal helminth infections. There are no such studies from Angola; therefore, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between asthma, allergic diseases, atopy, and intestinal helminth infection in Angolan schoolchildren. We performed a cross-sectional study of schoolchildren between September and November 2017. Five schools (three urban, two rural) were randomly selected. Asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, and eczema were defined by appropriate symptoms in the previous 12 months: atopy was defined by positive skin prick tests (SPT) or aeroallergen-specific IgE; intestinal helminths were detected by faecal sample microscopy. In total, 1023 children were evaluated (48.4% female; 57.6% aged 10–14 years; 60.5% urban). Asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, or eczema were present in 9%, 6%, and 16% of the studies children, respectively. Only 8% of children had positive SPT, but 64% had positive sIgE. Additionally, 40% were infected with any intestinal helminth ( A. lumbricoides 25.9%, T. trichiura 7.6%, and H. nana 6.3%). There were no consistent associations between intestinal helminth infections and asthma, allergic diseases, or atopy, except for A. lumbricoides, which was inversely associated with rhinoconjuctivitis and directly associated with aeroallergen-specific IgE. We concluded that, overall, intestinal helminth infections were not consistently associated with allergic symptoms or atopy. Future, preferably longitudinal, studies should collect more detailed information on helminth infections as part of clusters of environmental determinants of allergies.

Keywords: Angola; asthma; atopy; children; eczema; helminths; rhinoconjunctivitis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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