L'asthme est-il déjà « en marche » avant l'atopie ?

Asthma is often considered a step in the natural history of atopy, occurring between atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinitis. However, several lines of reasoning suggest that the development of asthma is an independent phenomenon. The importance of events occurring during the prenatal period is probably underestimated. Atopy probably occurs afterward, the onset of allergic sensitizations consequently exacerbating the asthma. Nevertheless, once developed, the two entities interact in a complex manner, since they probably share common immunologic regulatory mechanisms.