Li Yusi, Hu Haisheng, Zhang Teng, Wang Guoliang, Huang Huimin, Zheng Peiyan, Sun Baoqing, Zhang Xiaohua Douglas
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau, China.
Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
J Asthma Allergy. 2021 Sep 29;14:1185-1195. doi: 10.2147/JAA.S322034. eCollection 2021.
Public health measures during COVID-19 have led to an unprecedented change in social lifestyle which might have an impact on the allergen sensitization in population. We sought to explore the prevalence patterns of serum inhalant and food allergen-specific IgE (sIgE) sensitization and serum total immunoglobulin E (tIgE) level among patients with clinical symptoms of suspected allergic diseases before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in south China.
A large epidemiology study was conducted on the prevalence patterns of sIgE sensitization and serum tIgE level among 13,715 patients with allergic symptoms in south China from 2017 to 2020. Chi-square test and Fisher exact test were used to test statistical significance of allergen sensitization difference among years. Logistic regression was performed to assess the magnitudes of the differences among years by adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals.
The number of hospital visits for patients with suspected allergy symptoms decreased during COVID-19. The positive rates of indoor inhalant allergens (house dust mites, German cockroach, dog dander) and tIgE increased significantly in 2020, while no significant differences were found in food allergens (egg white, milk, soya bean, shrimp) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The odds of sIgE positives in indoor inhalant allergens and tIgE positive for 2017 and 2020 were all larger than 1.00. After grouping by age and gender, there were significant differences in the positive rates of indoor inhalant allergens and tIgE when comparing 2020 with 2017.
The prevalence of sensitization increased significantly to indoor inhalant allergens but not to food allergens in south China during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）期间的公共卫生措施导致社会生活方式发生了前所未有的变化，这可能会对人群中的过敏原致敏产生影响。我们试图探讨在中国南方COVID-19大流行之前和期间，有疑似过敏性疾病临床症状的患者中血清吸入性和食物过敏原特异性IgE（sIgE）致敏的流行模式以及血清总免疫球蛋白E（tIgE）水平。
对2017年至2020年中国南方13715例有过敏症状的患者进行了一项关于sIgE致敏流行模式和血清tIgE水平的大型流行病学研究。采用卡方检验和Fisher精确检验来检验各年份间过敏原致敏差异的统计学意义。进行逻辑回归分析以通过调整后的优势比和95%置信区间评估各年份间差异的大小。
COVID-19期间，疑似过敏症状患者的就诊次数减少。2020年，室内吸入性过敏原（屋尘螨、德国小蠊、狗毛屑）的阳性率和tIgE显著升高，而在COVID-19大流行之前和期间，食物过敏原（蛋清、牛奶、大豆、虾）未发现显著差异。2017年和2020年室内吸入性过敏原sIgE阳性和tIgE阳性的优势比均大于1.00。按年龄和性别分组后，2020年与2017年相比，室内吸入性过敏原和tIgE的阳性率存在显著差异。
在COVID-19大流行期间，中国南方对室内吸入性过敏原的致敏率显著增加，但对食物过敏原的致敏率未增加。
