Allergy Asthma Immunol Res.  2014 Jan;6(1):47-54. 10.4168/aair.2014.6.1.47.

Variability of Offending Allergens of Allergic Rhinitis According to Age: Optimization of Skin Prick Test Allergens

• Lee JE
• Ahn JC
• Han DH
• Kim DY
• Kim JW
• Cho SH
• Park HW
• Rhee CS

• KMID: 2166931
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4168/aair.2014.6.1.47

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study evaluates offending allergens in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) according to age that establish a minimal panel for skin prick test (SPT) allergens required to identify if a patient is sensitized.
METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed SPT results according to age to determine the minimum test battery panel necessary to screen at least 93%-95% of AR patients. Allergic skin tests (common airborne indoor and outdoor allergens) were performed on 7,182 patients from January 2007 to June 2011. All patients were classified into 9 groups according to age; subsequently, we investigated offending allergens by age group.
RESULTS
A total of 5,032 (70.1%) patients were found sensitized to at least one of the 55 aeroallergen extracts tested. The annual ranking of offending allergens was not significantly different from each other over the past 5 years. House dust mites (HDM) were the most prevalent allergens ranked from first to third for all 5 years. The allergens in the minimum test panel differed slightly among all age groups; in addition, the types of sensitized allergen sources were more diverse in the older versus younger age group. HDM covered a larger proportion of the sensitized allergens in the younger age group versus the older age group. Testing with 5 allergens (Dermatophagoides farinae, Tetranychus urticae, oak, mugwort and cockroach) adequately identified over 90% of the sensitized patients.
CONCLUSIONS
A SPT with around 5-7 allergens adequately detected most of the sensitization in the majority of the age groups in Korea. However, this study suggests that physicians perform the SPT with appropriately selected allergens in each age category for the screening of AR.

Keyword

Allergic rhinitis; aeroallergen; skin prick test; sensitization

MeSH Terms

Allergens*
Artemisia
Humans
Korea
Mass Screening
Pyroglyphidae
Retrospective Studies
Rhinitis*
Skin Tests
Skin*
Allergens

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Annual positive rate of offending allergens. The comparison of year 2007 and year 2011 to evaluate the change of the trend of offending allergens; the positive rates of allergens increased slightly in most allergens.

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  Fig. 2 Annual variability of offending allergens between 2007 and 2011 year. The overall allergen ranking was similar between year 2007 and year 2011 (except for beech and hop J pollens). In addition, there was a remarkable increase in the positive rate of beech as a seasonal allergen and cockroach/hop J as perennial allergens between year 2007 and year 2011. D.f, Dermatophagoides farinae; D.p, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus.

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  Fig. 3 The prevalence of sensitization peaked in young adults (regardless of the allergen) and diminished with age. The prevalence of sensitization to common allergens increased with age, from group 0-6 years to group 13-19 years, and then decreased progressively.

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