Allergy Asthma Respir Dis.  2015 Jan;3(1):54-61. 10.4168/aard.2015.3.1.54.

Prevalence and allergens of allergic rhinitis in children and adolescents in Gwangju

• Kwon SE
• Lim DH
• Kim JH
• Son BK
• Park YS
• Jang HJ
• Kim BH
• Kim GM
• Yoo YS
• Park KW

• KMID: 2262278
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4168/aard.2015.3.1.54

Abstract

PURPOSE
Allergic rhinitis (AR) is one of the most common childhood diseases in Korea. In this study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence and allergens of childhood AR in Gwangju.
METHODS
From April 2013 to September 2013 in Gwangju, skin prick test and questionnaire survey were performed targeting 2,330 children in total (350 kindergartners, 930 elementary school students, 589 middle school students, and 461 high school students).
RESULTS
The overall prevalence of AR was 23.5% (female 21.3%, male 26.1%). According to age groups, prevalence of AR was 14.9% (female 10.7%, male 19.8%) in kindergartners, 24.5% (female 18.8%, male 29.4%) in elementary school students, 23.3% (female 18.1%, male 27.6%) in middle school students, 26.2% (female 27.7%, male 23.2%) in high school students. The most common allergen was Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (79.7%), followed by Dermatophagoides farina (72.2%), birch (14.0%), alder (12.0%), Japanese hop (9.2%), Alternaria (8.9%), cat fur (7.2%), Japanese cedar (6.9%), ryegrass (6.6%), willow (6.0%), pine (5.4%), oak (4.9%), mugwort (4.3%), orchard grass (4.0%), sheep fescue (3.7%), fat hen (3.4%), ragweed (3.4%), and maple (3.4%).
CONCLUSION
This research figures out the prevalence and the detailed allergens of AR in Gwangju children. We suggest that more vegetation data of Japanese cedar should be surveyed in recent future.

Keyword

Allergic rhinitis; Child; Prevalence; Allergens

MeSH Terms

Acer
Adolescent*
Allergens*
Alnus
Alternaria
Ambrosia
Animals
Artemisia
Asian Continental Ancestry Group
Betula
Cats
Child*
Cryptomeria
Dactylis
Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus
Gwangju
Humans
Humulus
Korea
Lolium
Male
Prevalence*
Pyroglyphidae
Rhinitis*
Salix
Sheep
Skin
Surveys and Questionnaires
Allergens

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Prevalence of allergic rhinitis based on questionnaire with skin prick test according to age with 95% confidence interval. The solid line shows trend of prevalence increase with aging (P=0.0139).

• 

  Fig. 2 Sensitization rate of allergens in childhood allergic rhinitis in Gwangju.

• 

  Fig. 3 Sensitization rate of allergen types according to school. *Though sensitization rate of pollen looks increase according to school in this figure, this results is not statistically significant (P=0.1301).

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