Antibody levels to Bordetella pertussis in 10-yr-old children with atopy and atopic asthma.

Suboptimal immune responses to vaccination have been suggested among atopic infants. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of atopy and atopic asthma on the humoral response to Bordetella pertussis vaccination. Immunoglobulin (Ig)G and IgA specific antibodies were measured by enzyme linked-immunosorbent assay in 102, 10-yr-old atopic children (66 of them also being asthmatics) and compared with 76 non-atopic and 53 non-atopic non-asthmatic controls of similar age. The levels of antibodies and the percentage of positives to B. pertussis were comparable in all groups. Children with a very high total serum immunoglobulin (Ig)E (Percentile (Pct) > 90th) showed higher (p = 0.01) IgG pertussis antibodies than children with very low serum IgE (Pct < 10th). In conclusion, we found normal pertussis antibody levels in atopic and in atopic asthmatic children in late childhood, thus overriding any possible suboptimal response during infancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]