The initial examination included a clinical examination, spirometry, chest x-ray, examination of the patients' records and questionnaires concerning issues of adherence, burden of asthma and quality of life (Pediatric Caregiver's Quality of Life Questionnaire, PACQLQ). This Questionnaire was filled out separately by the fathers and the mothers and a change of > 0.5 units on a 7-point scale was considered to be clinically important. The blood and urine were analyzed for inflammatory parameters. Skin prick tests were performed being considered positive if the mean diameter of the wheal was >3 mm. The al-lergen extracts used were Soluprick® (ALK-Albello A/S, Denmark) and included egg, birch, timothy, mugwort, dog, cat, horse and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. RAST® testing (Pharmacia Diagnos-tics & Upjohn AB) with the same allergens (considered positive when the IgE-level was >0.7 kU/l) and Phadiatop® testing (Pharmacia Diagnostics & Upjohn AB) (considered positive if the value > 1.0 kU/l) were also performed.