Substantial experimental studies suggest a role for helminthes infections in the pathogenesis of allergies, but epidemiologic data have been inconsistent. Unlike to asthma, the association between helminthes infection and allergic rhinitis (AR) has been poorly studied. Therefore, we sought to evaluate the association between exposure to Ascaris and Toxocara infections and AR. We did an age- and gender-matched case–control study of 81 children with physician-confirmed AR and 101 control subjects in a referral hospital for pediatric diseases in northern Iran. Exposure to Ascaris and Toxocara infections was evaluated by anti-A. lumbricoides- and anti-Toxocara- IgG antibodies using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Associations were determined using multivariate logistic regression. Ascaris seropositivity was higher in children with rhinitis than in controls (12.34 vs. 3.96%). Ascaris seropositivity was positively associated with AR in univariate analysis (OR, 3.42; 95% CI 1.03–11.3; P value = 0.035), but this association was not significant after adjustment for potential confounders (OR, 1.85; 95% CI 0.42–8.18). Also Toxocara seropositivity was higher in children with AR than in healthy subjects (3.7% vs. 0.99), indicating non-significant association with AR in both univariate (OR, 3.84; 95% CI 0.39–37.7) and multivariate analyses (OR, 0.8; 95% CI 0.04–15.44). Our results revealed that AR is not associated with seropositivity to Ascaris and Toxocara infections in general; however, a higher seropositivity rate was found for both parasites in children with AR. More studies with longitudinal design and larger sample size are needed to elucidate this association.

中文翻译：

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暴露于弓形虫属。蛔虫感染和儿童过敏性鼻炎的风险。

大量实验研究表明蠕虫感染在过敏发病机制中的作用，但流行病学数据不一致。与哮喘不同，蠕虫感染与过敏性鼻炎 (AR) 之间的关联研究很少。因此，我们试图评估接触蛔虫和弓蛔虫感染与 AR 之间的关联。我们在伊朗北部一家儿科疾病转诊医院对 81 名经医生确认的 AR 儿童和 101 名对照受试者进行了年龄和性别匹配的病例对照研究。通过抗 A 评估暴露于蛔虫和弓蛔虫感染。使用商业酶联免疫吸附测定法检测 lumbricoides 和抗弓形虫 IgG 抗体。使用多元逻辑回归确定关联。鼻炎患儿的蛔虫血清阳性率高于对照组（12.34% vs. 3.96%）。在单变量分析中，蛔虫血清阳性与 AR 呈正相关（OR，3.42；95% CI 1.03-11.3；P 值 = 0.035），但在调整潜在混杂因素后，这种关联并不显着（OR，1.85；95% CI 0.42-8.18） ）。此外，AR 患儿的弓形虫血清阳性率高于健康受试者（3.7% 对 0.99），表明在单变量（OR，3.84；95% CI 0.39-37.7）和多变量分析（OR，0.8）中与 AR 无显着相关性; 95% CI 0.04–15.44)。我们的研究结果表明，AR 与一般的蛔虫和弓蛔虫感染的血清阳性无关；然而，在 AR 儿童中发现两种寄生虫的血清阳性率较高。