Asia Pac Allergy.  2018 Jan;8(1):e8. 10.5415/apallergy.2018.8.e8.

Time trends of the prevalence of allergic diseases in Korea: A systematic literature review

• Kang SY
• Song WJ
• Cho SH
• Chang YS

• KMID: 2428875
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5415/apallergy.2018.8.e8

Abstract

The prevalence of allergic diseases has increased dramatically in recent decades, and are now considered major chronic diseases at the global level. The increasing burden of allergic diseases has led to numerous worldwide and local researchers to investigate the time trends in its prevalence and identify its driving factors. Environmental changes such as urbanization and industrialization have been suggested to explain the increasing prevalence, but recent reports from Western countries suggest that this prevalence has reached a plateau or even possibly, started to decrease. However, such environmental changes are still occurring in many Asia-Pacific countries, including Korea, and it is speculated that the peak in allergy epidemics has yet to come. The present systematic literature review aimed to explore the time trends in the prevalence of allergic diseases in Korea and to identify the unmet needs for facilitating further studies.

Keyword

Allergic diseases; Epidemiology; Prevalence; Incidence; Trends; Korea

MeSH Terms

Chronic Disease
Epidemiology
Hypersensitivity
Incidence
Korea*
Prevalence*
Urbanization