The association between degree of sensitization to allergen and severity of allergic rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis is the most common allergic disease affecting an estimated four million people in Malaysia.   Although allergic rhinitis is not usually severe diseases, it significantly alters the social life of patients and affects school learning performance as well as work productivity. This study was done to determine the levels of allergen specific Immunoglobulin E assay in allergic rhinitis patients in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Malaysia before proceed with evaluation of possible association between this parameter with severity of allergic rhinitis.

In this cross sectional study, total and specific IgE to 28 types of allergens were measured in serum samples from 128 allergic rhinitis patients. The interviewer guided questionnaire was used to evaluate the severity of symptoms using ARIA criteria. 

In this study, we found that among the aeroallergens, Dermatogoides farinae (97%) was the most common followed by Dermatogoides pteronyssinus (83%) and house dust mite (43%).  Among the food allergen group, shrimp (28.9%) was the most common implicated food followed by soybean (26.6%), crab (23.4%), clam (22.7%), wheat (21.9%), peanut (20.3%), yolk egg (18.8%), cow’s milk (18.0%), citrus mix (18.0%), beef(14.1%), white egg (12.5%), tuna (11.7%) and chicken (11.7%).  For fungal allergen, aspergillus spp (23.4%) was found to be the most common fungal followed by candida spp (20.3%), altenaria spp (16.4%), mucor spp (14.8%), penicillium spp (12.5%) and clasdosporium spp (10.9%).  Cockroach (49.2%) was the most common animal allergen.  Cat (44.5%), dog (43.0%), latex (42.2%), Bermuda (28.9%) and Johnson (21.9%) grass were also common.  In this study, we also found a significant association between the specific IgE levels and the severity of allergic rhinitis for Dermatogoides farinae (p=0.024), Dermatogoides pteronyssinus (p=.039), cockroach (p = 0.038), cat (p = 0.042) and latex (p = 0.044).

In conclusion this study revealed a significant association between specific IgE levels and the severity of allergic rhinitis symptoms for Dermatogoides farinae, Dermatogoides pteronyssinus, cockroach, cat and latex.