Age-Dependent Distribution of Allergic Positivity to Major Allergens
Judit Krisch1 and László Salgó2
1 Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Industry, University of Szeged, Hungary
2 Central Laboratory, Municipal Hospital of Szeged, Hungary
Corresponding author: Judit Krisch
Department of Food Science,
Faculty of Food Industry, University of Szeged
H-6724 Szeged, Mars tér 7
Telephone: (36) (62) 546 594
E-mail: krisch@szef.u-szeged.hu
CEJOEM 2005, Vol.11. No.4.: 271–274
Key words:
Allergy, aeroallergens, food allergens, age of life
Abstract:
The incidence of allergic diseases is increasing all over the world, especially among children and
adolescents. From the data of the literature age- and environment-dependent patterns of the occurrence of
allergies can be derived. Sensitisation to some kind of foods (e.g., milk, egg white) is more common in
infancy and can be outgrown while, in later childhood and adulthood food allergies, often in association
with pollen sensitisation, are permanent. Our aim was to investigate whether the frequency of positive
allergen-specific IgE tests had an age-dependence. In the year 2002, 3086 patients were tested for
allergen-specific IgE whereby 696 persons (22%) had a positive test. The most common aeroallergens were
mites, grasses (rye, timothy), and weeds (ragweed and mugwort). The most common food allergens were milk,
egg white, peanuts, and soybean. Infants and small children had a very high sensitisation rate for milk
and egg white (5.1–6.7%) in contrast to the 8–18 year old group (egg white: 1.8%, milk: 0.7%). Adults had
an overall sensitisation rate for these allergens of about 2%. Soya allergy was more frequent among adults
(about 2% vs. 1% in children). Our results indicated an existing connection between frequency of various
allergens and age of life, which however was not significant for all allergens.
Received: 5 December 2005
Accepted: 21 April 2006
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