Prevalence Of Seafood Allergy In Patients With Allergic Rhinitis

Background:Seafood is a frequent cause of adverse food reactions in atopic patients. However,the exact prevalence is unknown.So this work is going to study the prevalence of seafood allergy in patients with allergic rhinitis in Taiwan.Methods:Patients with typical symptoms of allergic rhinitis were collected.They underwent skin testing to find possible allergens.The skin testing included 4 inhalant allergens(house dust,ragweed,cotton and candida) and 6 seafood allergens(sardine, tunny,cuttlefish,lobster,oyster and crab).Results:Between July of 2004 and March of 2006,314 patients were enrolled in this study.Among them,56 atients(17.8%) reported seafood adverse reactions before.54 patients(17.2%) have been diagnosed with other atopic diseases.198(63.1%)patients had positive skin testing to inhalant allergens,and 108(34.4%) patients had positive skin testing to seafood allergens.206(65.6%) patients had positive skin testing to at least one allergen.32 patients had compatible history of clinical food adverse reaction with skin testing.Conclusions:This study showed that seafood allergy was quite prevalent in patients with allergic rhinitis although the clinical relevance needs further investigation.