This study investigated the association of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and eczema in United Arab Emirates (UAE) schoolchildren with allergic conditions in their parents. A cross-sectional, population-based study among schoolchildren aged 6-14 years was conducted in Al-Ain City, UAE. The field survey was conducted from October 1992 to May 1993. A questionnaire was distributed to 850 UAE government school students from representative, randomly selected schools with a majority of UAE nationals. The student and both or either of the parents were present during the interview. A detailed clinical history of asthma and wheezing in the target children and a history of asthma and allergic rhinitis in their parents and siblings were obtained. It was found that 13.1% of asthmatic children had mothers with asthma (relative risk (RR) = 2.67; 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 1.65-4.35), and 15.2% had fathers who were asthmatic (RR = 2.85; 95% CI = 1.81-4.49). This contrasted with 4.4% of nonasthmatic children who had fathers with asthma, and 4.1% who had mothers with asthma. A similar pattern was seen with symptoms of allergic rhinitis when it was found that 34.3% of children who had asthma had mothers with allergic rhinitis (RR: 2.74; 95% CI: 1.90-3.94). The corresponding figure for fathers was 12.7% (RR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.5-1.7). The frequency of either parent of the asthmatic children having allergic rhinitis was 28.6%; for both parents, it was 14.5%. It was also found that asthmatic children had 12.5% of their fathers, 32.8% of their mothers, 26.4% of either of their parents, and 33.3% of both their parents suffering from allergic rhinitis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)