Frequencies of exposures and outcomes
Almost half (45.8%) the children had an infected mother (A. lumbricoides 27.6%, T. trichiura 28.9%, hookworm 5.6%, andS. stercoralis 4.0%). Geohelminth infections during the first 5 years of life were observed in 45.5% of the 1,933 children analysed at 8 years, most frequently with A. lumbricoides (36.3%) andT. trichiura (25.5%). Other infections were hookworm (1.1%),S. stercoralis (1.5%) and Hymenolepis spp. (4.2%). Geometric mean infection intensities at 5 years among infected children were 1,162 eggs per gram (epg) for A. lumbricoides and 227 epg for T. trichiura . Maternal and childhood geohelminth infections were strongly associated; of 1,933 children, 35.5% neither maternal nor childhood infections, 19.0% had maternal geohelminths only, 18.7% had childhood infections only, and 26.8% had both (P<0.001). At least one episode of wheeze from birth to 8 years of age was reported for 38.0% of children. Prevalence of wheeze at 8 years was 6.6% and asthma between 5 and 8 years was 7.9%. The prevalence of SPT at 8 years was 14.7%: D. pteronyssinus/farinae 10.7%, cockroach 5.3%, mixed fungi 0.3%, dog 0.1%, cat 0.2%, mixed grasses 1.1%, peanut 0.3%, milk 0.1%, and egg 0.1%. Bronchial hyper-responsiveness was observed in 10% of children while evidence of airways inflammation measured by elevated levels of FeNO (>35 ppb) and nasal eosinophilia (>5%) was observed in 10.3% and 9.2%, respectively.