Introduction
Skin prick testing (SPT) is the standard method for diagnosing allergic sensitization. Correct diagnosis of inhalant allergies, requires knowledge of the most important inhalant allergen sensitizations. Few data are available regarding the prevalence of these sensitizations in Greece.
Objective
The prospective assessment of the inhalant allergen sensitization rates in a Greek pediatric population.
Methods
196 patients 3-18 years old (median age 10.3) who referred to our outpatient department with suspected reactions to inhalant allergens were included in the study (1.6/1 male to female ratio). Data were collected on the first 20 SPT performed every month for a total period of 12 months (April 2012 to March 2013) and are herein reported for children (<18), only. Evaluation for every skin prick test occurred after 15-20 min exposure, with positive results defined as a wheal ≥3 mm maximum diameter.
Results
The seven allergens with the most common sensitization rate were revealed to be olea (52.3%), followed by Grass-mix (42.6%), cat (31.3%), mites [D. pteronissinus (31.8%), D. farinae (23.6%)], parietaria (24.6%), alternaria (19.5%). These were comparable with a previous evaluation of our population. Sensitization to ragweed and birch (14.9% each) allergens was also present, although these allergens do not exist in southern Greece.
13.3% of the subjects were not sensitized to any allergen tested. Single sensitization was revealed in 18.3%, the most prevalent being mites (6.1%), olive (4.6%) and grasses (4.1%). 48% were sensitized to four or more allergens.
Conclusion
The application of the Pan-European panel may provide awareness for some inhalant allergen sensitizations that had not been examined in this population before. It also suggests that some sensitizations assessed through SPTs with natural extracts, may be due to cross-reactivity, highlighting the need for component resolved diagnosis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
This article is published under an open access license. Please check the 'Copyright Information' section either on this page or in the PDF for details of this license and what re-use is permitted. If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and re-use information, please contact the Rights and Permissions team.
About this article
Cite this article
Konstantinopoulos, A.P., Karantoumanis, D., Psomiadou, M. et al. PD02 - Observational follow-up study with the Pan-European standard prick test to determine inhalant allergen sensitisation rates in a Greek population. Clin Transl Allergy 4 (Suppl 1), P2 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/2045-7022-4-S1-P2
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/2045-7022-4-S1-P2