Comparative Medicine, Interuniversity Messerli Research Institute of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Medical University Vienna and University Vienna.
Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Center of Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol. 2019 Jun;19(3):249-255. doi: 10.1097/ACI.0000000000000529.
The difference of food allergy prevalence between male and female individuals is well documented and should have more impact for personalized diagnosis and management. Although in younger age male sex dominates, in adults more women are affected by food allergies. This sex disparity diminishes again around menopause, underlining the influence of sex hormones, but in addition, also metabolic gender-specific factors and differences in microbiome composition might contribute to the different expression of food allergy in the two genders. The sex-dependent and gender-dependent influence on development of food allergy, disease severity, as well as on social, dietary and neuropsychological factors in studies mainly published within past 18 months are discussed in this review.
Sex and gender differences likely play a role in food allergy development, for instance via influence on immune cells and mediators, or on the composition of the microbiome, but only few controlled studies on this specific topic are available.
Future prospective studies need to clearly take into account the sex and gender difference in order to provide personalized diagnosis, management and treatment of food allergy.
食物过敏在男性和女性中的患病率存在差异,这一现象已有充分的文献记载,应该对个性化诊断和管理产生更大的影响。尽管在较年轻的年龄组中男性占主导地位,但成年后更多的女性受到食物过敏的影响。这种性别差异在绝经期间再次减弱,这强调了性激素的影响,但除此之外,代谢性别特异性因素和微生物组组成的差异也可能导致食物过敏在两性中的不同表现。本文讨论了过去 18 个月内主要发表的研究中,性别对食物过敏发展、疾病严重程度以及社会、饮食和神经心理因素的影响,以及性别对这些因素的影响。
性别差异可能在食物过敏的发展中起作用,例如通过对免疫细胞和介质的影响,或通过对微生物组组成的影响,但关于这一特定主题的对照研究较少。
未来的前瞻性研究需要明确考虑性别差异,以便为食物过敏提供个性化的诊断、管理和治疗。