ABSTRACT
An east-west gradient in asthma prevalence in children appears to exist within Europe. Results of several recent studies performed after the fall of the Berlin Wall have documented large differences in the prevalence of atopic diseases between the eastern and western areas of the continent. In West Germany, the prevalence of hay fever (8.6 versus 2.7%, P < 0.0001), asthma (9.3 versus 7.2%, P < 0.05), and BHR (8.3 versus 5.5%, P < 0.0001) was significantly higher in 9-to 11-year-old children than in East Germany (6). The frequency of atopic sensitization measured by skin-prick tests among East German children was about half that observed among West German children (18.2 versus 36.7%, P < 0.0001) (6). Likewise, a significantly lower prevalence of atopic sensitization was reported in 10-to 12-year-old children living in Estonia and Poland as compared with Sweden (10.9 versus 13.6 versus 30.3%, P < 0.0001) (7).
