[A preliminary study on determining total serum IgE and specific anti-mite IgE antibody in cigarette manufacturing workers].

Total serum IgE and specific anti-mite IgE antibody (IgEAM) were determined in cigarette manufacturing workers with (but not asthma) or without respiratory symptoms (30 cases in each) 16 patients with bronchial asthma, 8 with asthmatic bronchitis and 6 with other respiratory diseases. The total serum IgE level was significantly higher in symptomatic workers (825.8 +/- 22.3 IU/ml) than that of asymptomatic (162.1 +/- 28.0 IU/ml) (P less than 0.001) and patients with other respiratory diseases (P less than 0.05), but was lower than that of patients with bronchial asthma (3310.3 +/- 26.3 IU/ml) and asthmatic bronchitis (2278.4 +/- 25.5 IU/ml) (P less than 0.001). IgEAM was undetectable in all cases except one with asymptomatic worker and one with asthma. The respiratory symptoms in these workers seemed to be related to type I allergic reaction, possibly due to the chemical components in the cigarettes.