TY - JOUR T1 - Predicting persistence of wheezing: one algorithm does not fit all JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 701 LP - 703 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00163709 VL - 35 IS - 3 AU - P. M. Matricardi AU - S. Illi AU - T. Keil AU - P. Wagner AU - U. Wahn AU - S. Lau Y1 - 2010/03/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/35/3/701.abstract N2 - From the authors: Scott et al. 1 have commented, in the light of outcomes of their “Isle of Wight Birth Cohort study” (IoWBC) 2, 3, on our findings on the risk factors for asthma in the Multicentre Allergy Study (MAS) birth cohort study 4. We agree that the two studies lead to similar conclusions in regard to early origins of persistent wheezing, heterogeneity of childhood wheezing and the relevance of an atopic background. In addition, we followed their suggestion to build a prognostic score in accordance with the IoWBC 3 and to test its performance in the MAS database. Here we report the results of our analysis. The IWBC prognostic algorithm comprises four risk factors: a family history of asthma; recurrent chest infections in infancy; absence of nasal symptoms at age 1 yr; and atopic sensitisation at age 4 yrs 3. To make the data of the two cohorts comparable, we … ER -