Study of atopy and allergic disease in rural China

Monday, 19 January 2009 20:54

Previous reasons for the increase in prevalence of allergic disease have pointed to lifestyle and urbanisation factors.  Research published in November 2008 studied the patterns of sensitisation and allergic disease in a rural agricultural Chinese population. More than 47% of the study population was found to be sensitised, particularly to shellfish, peanut, dust mite, and cockroach. However, the rates of food allergy and asthma were estimated to be less than 1%.

Skin prick tests were performed to foods and aeroallergens, with atopy defined as sensitisation to 1 or more allergens. Allergic disease was ascertained by means of self-report.

The data were derived from a community-based twin study in Anqing, China. The group included 1059 same-sex twin pairs with ages ranging from 11 to 71 years.

While birth order and zygosity appeared to have no effect on sensitisation rates, age was shown to be a risk factor for food allergy, and sex was a risk factor for aeroallergens.

Reference: Kim et al (2008). The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Vol. 122(5), pp. 929-935.