The Clinical and Immunological Effects of Forest Camp on Childhood Environmental Diseases

This study was conducted for evaluating the clinical and immunological effects of forest camps on children with chronic environmental diseases. Twenty-seven asthmatic children and 25 children with atopic dermatitis were participated forest camps, respectively. The allergic skin prick tests, education programs, physical activities and immunologic work-up were provided for participated patients during the forest camp activities. The severity of diseases was estimated by measuring pulmonary function tests or the SCORAD Index for children. We investigated the changes of clinical symptoms, anxiety status, knowledge about their diseases and blood cytokine levels before and after camp activities in all participated children. The clinical symptoms and the immunologic imbalance were significantly improved in the children with atopic dermatitis after the camp activities. The pulmonary function parameters were not significantly improved during the camp activities in asthmatic children. The knowledge about their diseases and the anxiety status were also tending to improve in both groups. The forest camp activities are valuable and helpful for treatment and prevention for childhood chronic environmental diseases such as asthma and atopic dermatitis. Phytoncide released from trees and reduced stress may help contribute to the improving symptoms and signs of children with chronic environmental diseases.