Clinical assessment
Each patient completed a questionnaire and underwent a clinical examination. The questionnaire contained items concerning the patient’s history of chronic cough, history of wheezing, familial and personal allergic history, history of asthma, as well as the subject’s use of current medications. Eosinophil counts were determined by routine blood examinations and the reference value was 0.02-0.52 x 10/L. The fluoroenzyme immunoassay (UniCAP® 100, Pharmacia Diagnostics AB, Uppsala, Sweden) was used to measure inhaled allergen-specific IgE in serum. A positive test for specific IgE was defined as a value ≥ 0.35 KU/L. We defined obesity as a body mass index (BMI)≥ P95.[15]