Four subtypes of childhood allergic rhinitis identified by latent class analysis

• Published in: Pediatric allergy and immunology 2021-11, Vol.32 (8), p.1691-1699
• Main Authors: Yavuz, Suleyman Tolga, Oksel Karakus, Ceyda, Custovic, Adnan, Kalayci, Ömer, Genuneit, Jon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Allergens; Allergic rhinitis; allergy; Animals; Asthma; Childhood; Children; Conjunctivitis; Conjunctivitis, Allergic - diagnosis; Conjunctivitis, Allergic - epidemiology; Eczema; Hay fever; Humans; Latent Class Analysis; Mathematical models; phenotype; Phenotypes; Rhinitis; Rhinitis, Allergic - epidemiology; Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal
• ISSN: 0905-6157; 1399-3038
• DOI: 10.1111/pai.13605

Background Childhood allergic rhinitis (AR) is clinically heterogenous. We aimed to identify distinct phenotypes among children with AR using data‐driven techniques and to ascertain their association with patterns of symptoms, allergic sensitization, and comorbidities. Methods We recruited 510 children with physician‐diagnosed AR, of whom 205 (40%) had asthma. Latent class analysis (LCA) was performed to identify latent structure within the data set using 17 variables (allergic conjunctivitis, eczema, asthma, family history of asthma, family history of allergic rhinitis, skin sensitization to 8 common allergens, tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy). Results A four‐class solution was selected as the optimal model based on statistical fit. We labeled latent classes as: (1) AR with grass mono‐sensitization and conjunctivitis (n = 361, 70.8%); (2) AR with house dust mite sensitization and asthma (n = 75, 14.7%); (3) AR with pet and grass polysensitization and conjunctivitis (n = 35, 6.9%); and (4) AR among children with tonsils and adenoids removed (n = 39, 7.6%). Perennial AR was significantly more common among children in Class 2 (OR 5.83, 95% CI 3.42–9.94, p