Background and Objectives: The kinds of offending allergens in our environment have changed in accordance with the changes wrought in the living environment. Thus, the study of offending allergens in allergic rhinitis is important. This
study
attempted to find out annual and seasonal distribution of offending allergens in patients of allergic rhinitis and to investigate the common offending allergens. Materials and Methods: A series of allergic skin tests were performed for
3,159
allergic rhinitis patients from Jan. 1981 to Jun. 1990 at the allergic clinic, St. Benedict Hospital, Pusan, Korea, and the results were reviewed. The allergic study included 1) an allergic skin test, 2) a nasal smear for eosinophil.
Results: The
following summary shows the results of this study : 1) The ratio between male and female of allergic rhinitis patients was 1.15:1 with the peak age being the teens and the twenties (60.6%), 2) The peak season of allergic rhinitis was winter
(29.6%),
followed by autumn, spring and summer. 3) The common offending allergens were dust and mites (35.9%), pollens (31.2%), epithelials (24.8%), 4) The most common offending allergen was D. farinae (52.5%), followed by D. pteronyssinus, cat fur, Alder
pollens and Hazel pollens. 5) 29.6% of patients reacted positive to the skin tests for perennial types of allergens only and 5.2% of patients demonstrated pure pollinosis. Conclusion: The most common offending allergen was found to be the
dust
mite, and the most common pollen was from Alder trees. Perennial types of allergic rhinitis exceeded seasonal types in their occurence.
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