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.
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Table 1.
Composition of Mixture Aeroallergen
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) |
Table 3.
Change of Sensitization Rate According to Age
Aeroallergens | Age (yr) | Total | P -value | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |||
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 |
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 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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) | 1.42 (1.09–1.86) | 12 (3.0) | 1 | ||
total | 336 (32.3) | 92 (8.8) |
Table 5.
Comparison of Sensitization Rate to Citrus Red Mite and Japanese Cedar According to the Residential Environment
Area | Citrus red mite | Japanese cedar | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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) | 4.10 (1.69–9.96) | 71 (17.9) | 1.89 (1.32–2.72) | ||
Total | 25 (2.4) | 138 (13.3) |
Table 6.
Comparison of Prevalence of Allergic Diseases According to the Residential Environment