Allergy risk of middle-class children

More children are suffering from allergies

Children of middle-class parents are far more likely to suffer from allergies than their working class equivalents, a study has found.

This may be because the cossetted lifestyle of the middle classes stops their immune systems from developing normally.

Some scientists believe that increases in the number of children suffering from asthma and eczema are linked to a lack of exposure to allergens such as house dust mites or pollens early in life.

Exposure to dust mites at the right agemay actually protect a child

This means children cannot build up a normal response to them, and suffer an over-the-top response when they encounter them later.

The German research team looked at 1,300 children and found that those with parents of a higher socio-economic status had a higher risk.

Professor Ulrich Wahn, a specialist in paediatric medicine at Humboldt University in Berlin, who led the study, said: "It is very confusing.

Doing the right things

"These are middle-class parents, who have taken on board the need for a healthy lifestyle, low rates of smoking in pregnancy, low rates of smoking in the home and low levels of pet ownership, together with high rates of breastfeeding.

"We cannot work out what they are doing wrong. There is clearly an unidentified factor that is so strong it cannot overcome all the lifestyle changes we encourage parents to adopt."

He said the study would continue into the children's teenage years to try to find out the reason for the discrepancy.

Muriel Simmons, the chief executive of the British Allergy Foundation, said: "What seems to be emerging is that children who are not exposed to bacteria are more at risk of developing allergies.

"We have developed lifestyles where our homes are ultra-clean, where children who are well-off play on computers rather than getting into rough and tumble in the mud outdoors where they get cuts and bruises and get used to fighting off infection.

"The children of farmers and those on lower incomes are more likely to have to think up their own fun and play outdoors than the children of parents who can afford computers and are afraid to let them outdoors."

The theory that exposure to potential allergens could offer protection against allergic conditions is gaining weight.

Some scientists are trying to develop a "dirt vaccine" which would offer children the same protection.