Baseline Demographics
There were no significant differences between the mean ages, genders, or BMI in the subjects with and without allergen-sensitization (Table 1 ). However, the reported allergic symptoms were clearly lower in the control group of non-sensitized children than in the allergen-sensitized group; none of the children in the control group reported any history of allergic rhinitis as compared with 97% in the allergen-sensitized group. Other allergic manifestations, such as eczema or food allergies, were more common in the allergen-sensitized group (63% vs 11.8% and 65% vs 0%, respectively). In the allergen-sensitized group, 85% of subjects had a physician’s diagnosis of asthma, whereas no subjects in the non-sensitized group had asthma. Accordingly, quality of life scores (ACT, AQLQ) and baseline FEV1 were lower in the allergen-sensitized group compared to the control group.