COBRAPed cohort: Do sensitization patterns differentiate children with severe asthma from those with a milder disease?

Abstract

Background: It is unclear whether sensitization patterns differentiate children with severe recurrent wheeze (SRW)/severe asthma (SA) from those with non-severe recurrent wheeze (NSRW)/non-severe asthma (NSA). Our objective was to determine whether sensitization patterns can discriminate between children from the French COBRAPed cohort with NSRW/NSA and those with SRW/SA. Methods: IgE to 112 components (c-sIgE) (ImmunoCAP® ISAC) were analyzed in 125 preschools (3–6 years) and 170 school-age children (7–12 years). Supervised analyses and clustering methods were applied to identify patterns of sensitization among children with positive c-sIgE. Results: We observed c-sIgE sensitization in 51% of preschool and 75% of school-age children. Sensitization to house dust mite (HDM) components was more frequent among NSRW than SRW (53% vs. 24%, p