Pediatr Allergy Respir Dis.  2011 Sep;21(3):176-185.

The Influence of the Residential Environment on the Sensitization Rates to Aeroallergens and the Prevalence of Allergic Disorders in the School Children in Jeju

• Lee HS
• Hong SC
• Kim SY
• Lee KH
• Kim JW
• Kim JH
• Choi SH
• Lim GC
• Lee J
• Shin KS

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study is to investigate the influence of the residential environment on the sensitization rates to aeroallergens and the prevalences of atopic disorders in the school children.
METHODS
Two elementary schools in Jeju, Korea were selected according to their distinctive residential environment, one located in the area surrounded by the tangerine farms and Japanese cedar forests (tangerine farming community) and the other rarely with them (non-tangerine farming community). All the school children (1,550 students) from the two school were enrolled in this study. Under their parents' informed consent, surveys based on International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire were answered by the parents and skin prick tests with 16 common aeroallergens were performed.
RESULTS
The questionnaire is responded from 1,290 parents (83.2%) and the skin test was done in 1,284 students (82.8%). The sensitization rates to more than one aeroallergen was 41.9%, increasing by age. The children residing in the tangerine farming community showed significantly higher sensitization rates than those from non-farming one (47.5% vs. 38.4%, P=0.004). The former were sensitized more frequently to house dust mite, citrus red mite and Japanese cedar pollen, while the others to outdoor moulds. However, the prevalence of atopic disorders had no difference between the two groups.
CONCLUSION
The residential environment might influence the sensitization rates to prevalent aeroallergens in the environment among school children, but there is no difference in the prevalence of the atopic disorders.

Keyword

Prevalence; Sensitization; Allergens; Skin test; Tangerine; Children; Jeju

MeSH Terms

Allergens
Asthma
Child
Citrus
Cryptomeria
Humans
Hypersensitivity
Informed Consent
Korea
Mites
Parents
Pollen
Prevalence
Pyroglyphidae
Surveys and Questionnaires
Skin
Skin Tests
Allergens

Reference

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