Prevalence of childhood allergies are increasing worldwide, according to The Lancet on 26 August 2006.

Between 2002 and 2003, researchers at the University of Auckland repeated the 1991 International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (Isaac) to determine whether there had been a change in childhood allergies.

Parents of over 193,400 children aged between six and seven in 37 countries were asked if their children displayed any symptoms of allergies, and the same questions were asked of 304,680 children between 13 and 14 years of age.

The conclusion was that the prevalence of children with allergies has risen worldwide in the past ten years. In the UK, asthma prevalence rose from 18.4 per cent to 20.9 per cent, hay fever from 9.8 per cent to 10.1 per cent and eczema from 13 to 16 per cent.

Other articles focused on allergic children being more prone to asthma, drug combinations that could reduce the risk of severe asthma attacks and the debate around whether the term “asthma” should be abolished.