Allergy Asthma Immunol Res.  2017 Nov;9(6):534-539. 10.4168/aair.2017.9.6.534.

A Retrospective Study of Korean Adults With Food Allergy: Differences in Phenotypes and Causes

• Lee SH
• Ban GY
• Jeong K
• Shin YS
• Park HS
• Lee S
• Ye YM

• KMID: 2421664
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4168/aair.2017.9.6.534

Abstract

PURPOSE
Increasing in prevalence, food allergy (FA) is becoming an important public health concern. In Korean adults, however, clinical phenotypes and causes of FA have not been studied. We aimed to study common causative allergens and clinical manifestations of FA in Korean adults.
METHODS
This study was conducted as a retrospective review of medical records for 95 patients (≥19 years old) diagnosed with FA from September 2014 to August 2015 at a single university hospital.
RESULTS
In the 95 patients, 181 FA events were recorded. The mean age of first onset of FA symptoms was 34.7±15.8 years. The most frequent causative food was seafood (34.8%); shrimp and crab allergies ranked highest, regardless of age and sex. Among all FA events, there were 47 (26.0%) cases of anaphylaxis and 26 (14.4%) cases of oral allergy syndrome (OAS). Seafood (51.1%) was the most frequent cause of anaphylaxis, followed by grains (14.9%). Most OAS cases were associated with fruits (95.7%). The frequency of fruit-induced FA was significantly higher in males than in females (23.0% vs 8.4%, P=0.011). While no cases of vegetables-induced FA were noted in younger individuals (19 to 30 years), vegetables accounted for 20.5% of FA symptoms in older subjects (≥51 years, P < 0.001). Allergic rhinitis (44.2%) and drug allergy (20.0%) were major comorbidities associated with FA. Overall, 29 FA events had cofactors, of which 10 were combined with exercise.
CONCLUSIONS
The major causes of FA in Korean adults were crustacean, fruits, and grains. Interestingly, the clinical manifestations of FA and demographics varied according to type of food allergen.

Keyword

Food allergy; adults; Korea

MeSH Terms

Adult*
Allergens
Anaphylaxis
Comorbidity
Demography
Drug Hypersensitivity
Female
Food Hypersensitivity*
Fruit
Humans
Hypersensitivity
Korea
Male
Medical Records
Phenotype*
Prevalence
Public Health
Retrospective Studies*
Rhinitis, Allergic
Seafood
Vegetables
Allergens

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Causes of food allergy in adults.

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  Fig. 2 Comparison of major causative foods between male and female adults. *P value <0.05. NBS, nuts-beans-seeds.

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