• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.31 no.3 s.62
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• pp.361-371
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• 1998

Recent increases of asthma and allergies in childhood made the need for a standardized approach to international and regional comparisons of their prevalence and severity. To address these issues, 'International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC)' is currently underway. In Korea, 'Nationwide Study of Asthma and Allergies in Korean Children' began in 1995 according to ISAAC protocol. ISAAC written and video questionnaires were used in this survey, but their reliability and validity were not evaluated properly yet. In this study, our aim was to evaluate the reliability and validity of two kinds of questionnaires and their usefulness in international and regional comparisons. The test and retest of two questionniares were completed by male(n=110) and female(n=111) middle school students with two and three weeks interval each. Kappa(or weighted kappa) were calculated from each questions and validity coefficients were estimated from those statistics. In Korean version of written questionnaire, the questions for allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, allergic conjunctivitis, and food allergy proved to have high kappa values (or weighted kappa values) and validity coefficients and they can be used in further studies without any correction. But some questions about asthma(especially nocturnal cough, wheezing in exercise, and severe asthma) and drug allergy need to be revised for better under-standing to study subjects. Video questionnaire has the same degree of reliability and validity when compared to written questionnaire and this is the unexpected result. Accordingly, it also need to be revised to overcome the racial and cultural differences of the study subjects. In conclusion, the Korean version of written and video questionnaires may be considered to be useful methods in international and regional comparisons of asthma and allergic diseases in childhood after correction of some questions.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.473-473
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.48-48
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• 2002

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.20-27
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors affecting childhood asthma and atopic dermatitis. Methods: For this study, data for 1,170 children (1-11 years) from the Fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V-2, 2011) were analyzed. First correlation matrices were computed to test the normality of every data set and then to be in accordance with the real demographic composition, data were added weight before being analyzed. Results: The child with asthma of a three generation family (OR=3.91, 95% CI [1.33, 11.45], p=.013) compared with a two generation family showed higher asthma development, and maternal asthma (OR=9.71, 95% CI [2.66, 35.40], p=.001) showed higher asthma development in child. The only factor affecting atopic dermatitis was parental perceptions of child health: poor (OR=3.40, 95% CI [1.29, 8.98], p=.014). Conclusion: These results suggest that childhood asthma and atopic dermatitis are both affected by parental perceptions of child health. Accordingly, management and support programs for children who have asthma and/or atopic dermatitis and their families should be comprehensive and also give attention to any other health problems because health perception represents quality of life.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.183-192
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• 2023

p38 MAPK has been implicated in the pathogenesis of asthma as well as pro-allergic Th2 cytokines, orosomucoid-like protein isoform 3 (ORMDL3), regulation of sphingolipid biosynthesis, and regulatory T cell-derived IL-35. To elucidate the role of p38 MAPK in the pathogenesis of asthma, we examined the effect of NJK14047, an inhibitor of p38 MAPK, against ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic asthma; we administrated NJK14047 before OVA sensitization or challenge in BALB/c mice. As ORMDL3 regulation of sphingolipid biosynthesis has been implicated in childhood asthma, ORMDL3 expression and sphingolipids contents were also analyzed. NJK14047 inhibited antigen-induced degranulation of RBL-2H3 mast cells. NJK14047 administration both before OVA sensitization and challenge strongly inhibited the increase in eosinophil and lymphocyte counts in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. In addition, NJK14047 administration inhibited the increase in the levels of Th2 cytokines. Moreover, NJK14047 reduced the inflammatory score and the number of periodic acid-Schiff-stained cells in the lungs. Further, OVA-induced increase in the levels of C16:0 and C24:1 ceramides was not altered by NJK14047. These results suggest that p38 MAPK plays crucial roles in activation of dendritic and mast cells during sensitization and challenge periods, but not in ORMDL3 and sphingolipid biosynthesis.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.355-361
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• 2008

Pollen is very important causing factor for allergy such as allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, and asthma, and pollen allergy has a remarkable clinical impact all over Korea. The main pollination period covers about half the year, from spring to autumn, and the distribution of airborne pollen taxa of allergological interest is related to pollen season dynamics. Korean academy of pediatric allergy and respiratory diseases (KAPARD) has evaluated the pollen characteristics and nationwide pollen count for over 10 years since 1997. Airborne particles carrying allergens were collected daily from nationwide 8 stations (Seoul, Guri, Cheongju, Daegu, Kwangju, Busan, Kangneung, and Jeju) by using 7 days-Burkard sampler (Burkard Manufacturing Co Ltd, Hertfordshire, UK) in South Korea (July 1, 1997-June 30, 2007). They were counted and recorded along with the meteorological factors daily. Tree pollen is a major airborne allergen in spring, grass is most common in summer, and weed pollen is major pollen in autumn in Korea. There has two peak seasons for pollen allergy, as summer and autumn. There is some evidence suggesting that the prevalence of allergic diseases in Korea has been on the increase in the past decade. However, recent findings of the phase I and II studies of the international Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) study showed the absence of increases or little changes in prevalence of asthma symptoms and diagnosis rates in Korea, whereas the prevalence of allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis were increased. We reported the evidence that sensitization rate to weed pollen has been increased yearly since 1997 in childhood. Climate change and air pollution must be the major causing factors for the increase of pollen counts and sensitization rate to pollen. Climate change makes the plants earlier pollination and persisting pollination longer. In conclusion, data on pollen count and structure in the last few years, the pathogenetic role of pollen and the interaction between pollen and air pollutants with climate change gave new insights into the mechanism of respiratory allergic diseases in Korea.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.409-410
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• 2018

Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases and can be affected by environmental factors. It has been reported that exposure to indoor environmental factors can cause infantile asthma during infancy and childhood, but the previous studies are not yet clear. Climate change has recently been shown to increase indoor mold. Exposure to fungi is known to be directly related to the development of aggravation. Methods: This study was conducted from July 20, 2016 to September 30, 2016. The study was conducted on 90 household with children under the age of 7 who attend atopy school. The questionnaire surveyed allergic symptoms, social and demographic characteristics, and environmental characteristics. Environmentally hazardous substances were measured such as temperature, humidity, fine dust, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, bacteria, fungus, house dust mite, endotoxin. Results: According to the survey results, 9 patients (10%) were treated with asthma, 6 (6.7%) were asthmatic patients during the past 12 months, and 4 patients (4.4%) were asthmatic patients during the past 12 months. There were statistically significant differences in the direct effect of smokers in the family (P=0.0328). High-filter vacuum cleaners collected $0.4222CFU/m^3$ in subjects without asthma, and $0.2222CFU/m^3$ in subjects with asthma. In addition, various results confirmed that asthma exacerbated by mold exposure. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that exposure to fungal by infants and toddlers may play an important role in the development of asthma. In this study, we investigated the relationship between asthma and fungal concentration.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.495-499
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• 2003

Purpose : Eosinophil is one of the important inflammatory cell involved in the airway inflammation in childhood asthma. It has been demonstrated that markers of eosinophil activation, including eosinophil cationic protein or eosinophil protein X(EPX), are increased in childhood asthma. Furthermore, they are related to disease activity and are assumed to be helpful in monitoring the treatment effect as urinary EPX(U-EPX) can be obtained easily and in a noninvasive way in children of all ages. Methods : Twenty-five children(22 male and three female) aged $11.87{\pm}3.82$ years with stable asthma were challenged with methacholine and urine was collected from each child during the following periods; before methacholine challenge test(MCT); 0-3 hr after the end of MCT; 4-7 hr after the end of MCT; and 8-24 hr after the end of MCT. Bronchial reactivity was determined by using Dosimeter( Jeager, Germany) with serially diluted methacholine from 0.05 to 25.0 mg. The $FEV_1$ less than 80% of baseline value were classified into positive MCT. U-EPX was measured with a sensitive and specific radioimmunoassay(Pharmacia & Upjohn AB, Uppsala, Sweden). Results were expressed as ${\mu}gEPX/mmol$ creatinine. Results : An early airway response after MCT was associated with an increase of U-EPX excretion for 0-3 hr after methacholine inhalation in comparison with beseline values. Most subjects showed a small increase in U-EPX excretion during late asthmatic response for 4-7 hr, which then decreased to normal level in 8-24 hr. Also, a tendency for a higher increase of U-EPX was associated with a lower threshold of methacholine challenge and a longer duration of asthma. Conclusion : Measurement of EPX in urine is a noninvasive and easy method to assess the severity of airway inflammation in asthmatic children. It may be a helpful index of the events underlying the airway inflammatory responses during nonspecific bronchial challenge, and in monitoring asthma management.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2010.04a
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• pp.336-337
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• 2010

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2018.10a
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• pp.53-53
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• 2018