2024 Volume 38 Issue 1 Pages 51-57
Allergic march (AM) is a phenomenon that children predisposed to allergy develop multiple allergic diseases with age despite the discrepancy between the causative antigen and the organ affected. Although atopic dermatitis (AD) in infancy is considered as the starting point of AM, several reports indicate that only a small percentage of children completely follow the typical AM, and population-level prevalence patterns often show individual distinct clusters of allergic disease trajectories. We conducted a nationwide survey targeting staff and their families at designated allergy disease medical hospitals and found that the prevalence of allergic diseases increased progressively with age. AD had the highest prevalence in the first year of life, followed by subsequent increases in food allergies, bronchial asthma, and allergic rhinitis with advancing age. The transition in age of onset and peak prevalence for these conditions suggested an AM. However, only 3.0% of children followed the typical AM encompassing all allergic diseases. These results suggest that various factors beyond AD are important in the onset and progression of allergic diseases.
