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

Hye-Sook Lee; Sung-Chul Hong; Su-Young Kim; Keun-Hwa Lee; Jae-Wang Kim; Jeong Hong Kim; Seung Hyo Choi; Gil-chai Lim; Jaechun Lee; Kyung-Sue Shin

doi:10.7581/pard.2011.21.3.176

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Lee, Hong, Kim, Lee, Kim, Kim, Choi, Lim, Lee, and Shin: The Influence of the Residential Environment on the Sensitization Rates to Aeroallergens and the Prevalence of Allergic Disorders in the School Children in Jeju

Abstract

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

Published online: 20 January 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7581/pard.2011.21.3.176

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

Hye-Sook Lee, PhD¹, Sung-Chul Hong, MD, PhD^1,^2,, Su-Young Kim, PhD^1,², Keun-Hwa Lee, PhD^1,³, Jae-Wang Kim, MD, PhD^1,⁴, Jeong Hong Kim, MD^1,⁵, Seung Hyo Choi, MD^1,⁵, Gil-chai Lim, MD^1,⁵, Jaechun Lee, MD^1,⁶, Kyung-Sue Shin, MD^1,⁷

¹The Environmental Health Center, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

²Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

³Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

⁴Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

⁵Department of Otorhinolaryngology, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

⁶Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

⁷Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

책임저자: 홍성철, 제주시 제주대학로 102번지 제주대학교 의학전문대학원 예방의학교실 Tel: 064)754-3808 Fax: 064)726-3803 E-mail: ghdhsc@jejunu.ac.kr

Received 23 May 2011 Revised 14 July 2011 Accepted 17 July 2011

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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.

Keywords: Prevalence, Sensitization, Allergens, Skin test, Tangerine, Children, Jeju

References

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Table 1.

Composition of Mixture Aeroallergen

Grass pollen mixture

Kentucky blue grass

Meadow fescue

Orchard grass

Rye grass

Timothy grass

Velvet grass

Tree pollen mixture Ⅰ

Alder

Elm

Hazel

Poplar

Willow

Tree pollen mixture Ⅱ

Beech

Birch

Oak

Plane tree

Animal hair Ⅰ

Cat epithelia

Dog epithelia

Guinea pig epithelia

Hamster epithelia

Rabbit epithelia

Animal hair Ⅱ

Cow epithelia

Goat epithelia

Horse epithelia

Pig epithelia

Sheep epithelia

Mould mixture Ⅰ

Alternaria tenuis (Alternaria alternata)

Botrytis cinerea

Cladosporium herbarum

Curvularia lunata

Fusarium moniliforme

Helminthosporium halodes

Mould mixture Ⅱ

Aspergillus fumigatus

Mucor mucedo

Penicillium notatum

Pullularia pullulans (Aureobasidium pull)

Rhizopus nigricans

Serpula lacrymans (Merulius lacrymans)

Table 2.

Comparison of Sensitization Rate to Aeroallergens by Study Population Characteristics

	Subjects n (%)	Sensitization rate^∗ n (%)	P -value	aOR^† (95% CI)
Age (yr)			0.021
7–8	268 (25.7)	100 (37.3)		1
9–10	402 (38.6)	160 (39.8)		1.10 (0.80–1.51)
11–12	371 (35.6)	176 (47.4)		1.43 (1.04–1.98)
Gender			0.006
Female	520 (50.0)	196 (37.7)		1
Male	521 (50.0)	240 (46.1)		1.41 (1.10–1.81)
Area			0.004
Non-tangerine	645 (62.0)	248 (38.4)		1
Tangerine	396 (38.0)	188 (47.5)		1.43 (1.11–1.85)
Total	1041(100.0)	436 (41.9)

aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

^∗ Sensitization rate: the number of the students showing positive reaction to more than one allergen.

^† Adjust value: sex, age, region.

Table 3.

Change of Sensitization Rate According to Age

Aeroallergens	Age (yr)						Total	P -value
Aeroallergens	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total	P -value
Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus	27.6	27.0	26.3	33.0	29.0	36.3	29.8	0.069
Dermatophagoides farinae^∗	24.4	25.5	25.8	29.7	28.5	34.4	28.1	0.042
Tyrophagus putrescentiae	3.1	7.8	7.4	3.2	8.4	5.1	6.1	0.666
Cockroach	0.8	0.7	0.9	0.5	1.9	0.6	1.0	0.635
Citrus red mite	3.1	1.4	1.8	1.1	3.7	3.2	2.4	0.413
Japanese cedar	6.3	12.8	16.1	12.4	12.6	17.2	13.3	0.061
Hop Japanese^∗	0.0	0.0	1.4	0.5	1.9	1.9	1.1	0.042
Mugwort	2.4	0.7	0.5	2.2	1.9	3.2	1.7	0.228
Ragweed	0.0	2.8	0.9	1.1	0.5	1.3	1.1	0.808
Animal hair I	0.8	0.7	0.9	0.5	1.4	1.3	1.0	0.501
Animal hair II	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.6	0.3	0.465
Mould mixture I	6.3	8.5	7.8	8.6	11.2	9.6	8.8	0.169
Mould mixture II	0.0	1.4	0.0	1.1	0.9	0.6	0.7	0.574
Tree pollen mixture I	0.0	0.7	0.0	1.6	1.9	1.3	1.0	0.062
Tree pollen mixture II^†	0.0	0.7	0.9	2.2	2.8	4.5	1.9	0.001
Grass pollen mixture^†	0.0	2.1	0.9	2.7	5.1	4.5	2.7	0.001
Sensitization rate^∗	35.4	39.0	38.2	41.6	42.5	54.1	41.9	0.002

Values are presented as %.

^∗ P<0.05.

^† P<0.001

Table 4.

Comparison of Sensitization Rate to House Dust Mite and Mould Mixture 1 According to the Residential Environment

Area	House dust mite			Mould mixture Ⅰ
Area	Sensitization rate^∗, n (%)	P -value	aOR^†(95% CI)	Sensitization rate^∗, n (%)	P -value	aOR^†(95% CI)
Non-tangerine	189 (29.3)	0.009	1.00	80 (12.4)	0.000	4.67 (2.50–8.71)
Tangerine	147 (37.1)	0.009	1.42 (1.09–1.86)	12 (3.0)	0.000	1
total	336 (32.3)			92 (8.8)

aOR, adjusted odds ratio; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval.

^∗ Sensitization rate: the number of the students showing positive reaction to more than one allergen.

^† Adjust value: sex, age.

Table 5.

Comparison of Sensitization Rate to Citrus Red Mite and Japanese Cedar According to the Residential Environment

Area	Citrus red mite			Japanese cedar
Area	Sensitization rate^∗, n (%)	P -value	aOR^†(95% CI)	Sensitization rate^∗, n (%)	P -value	aOR^†(95% CI)
Non-tangerine	7 (1.1)	0.000	1.00	67 (10.4)	0.000	1
Tangerine	18 (4.5)	0.000	4.10 (1.69–9.96)	71 (17.9)	0.000	1.89 (1.32–2.72)
Total	25 (2.4)			138 (13.3)

aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

^∗ Sensitization rate: the number of the students showing positive reaction to more than one allergen.

^† Adjust value: sex, age.

Table 6.

Comparison of Prevalence of Allergic Diseases According to the Residential Environment

	Tangerine (n=520)	Non-tangerine (n=770)	Total (n=1,290)	P -value
Wheeze, ever	87 (18.8)	107 (15.9)	194 (17.1)	0.197
Wheezing, last 12 mo	27 (5.9)	39 (5.8)	66 (5.8)	0.518
Diagnosis of asthma, ever	46 (10.0)	64 (9.4)	110 (9.7)	0.736
Treatment of asthma, last 12 mo	16 (3.5)	25 (3.7)	41 (3.6)	0.895
AR, ever	150 (32.6)	232 (34.5)	382 (33.7)	0.503
AR, last 12 mo	122 (27.1)	185 (28.2)	307 (27.7)	0.782
Diagnosis of AR, ever	88 (19.1)	130 (19.1)	218 (19.1)	0.991
Treatment of AR, last 12 mo	76 (16.6)	101 (14.9)	177 (15.6)	0.442
Itchy eczema, ever	103 (22.2)	164 (24.1)	267 (23.3)	0.459
Itchy eczema, last 12 mo	62 (13.5)	127 (18.7)	189 (16.6)	0.008
Diagnosis of AD, ever	140 (30.3)	181 (27.0)	321 (28.3)	0.222
Treatment of AD, last 12 mo	60 (13.3)	106 (16.0)	166 (14.9)	0.217

Values are presented as number (%).

AR, allergic rhinitis; AD, atopic dermatitis.

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