Methods This paper arose from an extensive literature review undertaken in develo** the
Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) study, a multicentre national …

The 'hygiene hypothesis' as originally formulated by Strachan, proposes that a cause of the
recent rapid rise in atopic disorders could be a lower incidence of infection in early …

Study objective: To review the “protective” effects of having a higher number of siblings for
the risk of atopic eczema, asthma wheezing, hay fever, and allergic sensitisation. Method …

There is increasing epidemiological evidence that obesity increases the risk of asthma,
atopic, and autoimmune diseases. We hypothesize that the increase in these diseases is …

The etiology of allergic disease is not understood, but a decreased exposure to infection
may play an important role. There are few published data on the impact of change in …

Early-life experiences and environmental exposures have been associated with childhood
asthma. To investigate further whether the timing of such experiences and exposures is …

In 1989, a short paper entitled “Hay fever, hygiene and household size” observed that British
children from larger families were less likely to develop hay fever and suggested that this …

By the late 1980s, it was clear that allergic diseases, including asthma, eczema, allergic
rhinitis and food allergy, had been increasing in recent decades, but the extent of this …

Objectives To determine whether early infectious diseases could explain the association
between number of siblings and other markers of microbial exposure and the development …

Aims: To investigate the effect of caesarean section on gastrointestinal symptoms, atopic
dermatitis, and sensitisation to nutritional allergens in infants. Methods: A total of 865 healthy …