Relationships among environmental exposures, cord blood cytokine responses, allergy, and wheeze at 1 year of age in an inner-city birth cohort (Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma study)

This high-risk cohort of inner-city infants is exhibiting high rates of wheeze, eczema, and allergic sensitization. Low cytokine responses at birth might be a risk factor for eczema, whereas a variety of adverse environmental exposures contribute to the risk of wheezing in infancy. These findings provide evidence of specificity in the interactions between immune development, environmental exposures, and the development of early features that might predict future asthma.