There's been a common belief that kids with eczema mostly go on to develop asthma. But you can forget about all that, according to a new report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, which is in contrast with earlier research. But data from 14 previous studies was reviewed and it was found that the association between eczema and asthma was in actuality quite weak.
The new findings reveal that "on average, only 1 in 3 young children with...eczema develops asthma at the age of 6 years or older." Which is a far cry from the "invariably" association that's been commonly assumed. In fact, it was found that no more than 46% of children with eczema go on to develop asthma.
I don't know, 46% still sounds like a lot, though, doesn't it? And 46% suggests that the association between the two is weak? Hmm. I'm not ready to completely throw out the notion that there's a correlation between the two, but at the same time I'm glad to see that people are questioning long-held presumptions. If any of my kids had eczema (and about 1 in 10 kids do) I'd likely try to avoid environmental or dietary triggers for asthma as well as treat the immune system as a whole, and hope for the best in avoiding asthma or forms of allergies, whch also seem to be related to eczema.
One of these days we'll get all this health stuff figured out, maybe, but until then it's pretty much a guessing game.
