Prevalence Allergic Diseases and Allergic Sensitization Among Urban Office Workers As Compared with a Forest Service Workers

Background: Asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR), and atopic dermatitis (AD) are the most prevalent allergic diseases and number of studies has shown an increase in prevalence of both all over the world in recent years. Although little about the prevalence of asthma, AR, and AD in Korean adults. And the incident sensitization to common allergens in the setting of sensitization to an occupational allergen has not been described. Our aim was to determine the prevalence of living and working place in adults. And also, determines the sensitization to common allergens in subjects with incident sensitization to a work-related allergen.

Methods: We performed questionnaire survey and allergy skin prick test with 27 common inhalant allergens among 294 subjects (response rate, 94.9%, n=279) age 19-54 years in Seoul and forest service workers. One hundred thirty four subjects were forest service workers and 145 subjects were urban office workers.

Results: The mean age was 33.7 ± 7.6 years. There were 141 man and 138 women. A history of asthma was noted in 3.8% and a history of AR was noted in 28.7%. And a history of AD was noted 21.3%. The each group of sensitization to allergen were 40.3% (urban) and 60.0% (forest), (p=0.002). The most common allergen was mites. The sensitization to birch allergen were more high in urban office workers (p=0.01).

Conclusions: The prevalence of allergic rhinitis in urban areas was high. And urban officer workers were also high with sensitization rate compare to forest workers. The interesting results were the pollen sensitization rate in urban areas showed higher tendencies. More research will be needed in futures.