Pet Exposure, Allergy and Early Asthma in the Inner-City

描述（由申请人提供）：最近的证据表明，在某些社区，早期接触家里的猫和狗可能会预防过敏和哮喘。然而，无论是在市中心还是在儿童暴露于高水平蟑螂和老鼠过敏原的环境中，这种宠物保护作用都没有得到广泛的研究。哥伦比亚儿童环境健康中心目前正在曼哈顿北部进行一项正在进行的出生队列研究，为在市中心社区研究这一现象提供了一个理想的机会。我们假设，对于生活在市中心暴露于蟑螂和老鼠过敏原的儿童，在生命早期暴露于高浓度的猫和狗过敏原会降低发生宠物特异性IgE反应和过敏症状的风险。这一假设是基于在其他地方观察到的宠物饲养的保护作用，以及在没有主要过敏原尘螨的社区（如瑞典）报告的一般特应性保护作用存在差异，但在尘螨种群大量的社区（如新西兰）没有观察到。具体目的是阐明高剂量猫和狗过敏原暴露在市中心儿童过敏性疾病发展中的作用，通常暴露于蟑螂和老鼠过敏原。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Recent evidence has shown that early life exposure to cats and dogs in the home may protect against allergic sensitization and asthma in certain communities. This pet protective effect, however, has not been extensively studied either in the inner city or in a setting where children are exposed to high levels of cockroach and mouse allergen. An ongoing birth cohort study currently being conducted in northern Manhattan by the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health offers an ideal opportunity to study this phenomenon in an inner-city community. We hypothesize that for children living in the inner city exposed to cockroach and mouse allergens, exposure to high concentrations of cat and dog allergens early in life decreases the risk of developing pet-specific IgE responses and allergic symptoms. This hypothesis is based on a protective effect of pet ownership observed elsewhere, and a discrepancy in the reported general atopy protective effect reported in communities without the major allergen, dust mite (e.g., Sweden), but not observed in communities with a significant mite population (e.g., New Zealand). The specific aims are designed to elucidate the role of high dose cat and dog allergen exposure in the development of allergic disease in inner-city children, commonly exposed to cockroach and mouse allergens: 1) Determine the level of pet allergen in the home over multiple time-points and validate the data with questionnaire data. This will allow us to better quantify cumulative pet allergen exposure. 2) Determine the early life allergen specific antibody responses relative to pet ownership in this community. We will compare IgE and IgG responses to cat and dog with Reponses to other allergens. 3) Determine whether pet allergen exposure in an inner-city community is associated with early predictors of allergic disease and asthma including persistent wheeze, doctor diagnosed eczema and asthma symptoms.