If it seems as though more patients are walking into your practice with allergy problems these days, you’re not imagining things.
New findings based on data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey show that more than 54 percent of 6- to 59-year-old participants tested positive to at least one allergen, with reactions to dust mite, rye, ragweed and cockroach allergens being the most common.
Testing positive to any of 10 allergens evaluated during the survey may mean an individual is more vulnerable to asthma, hay fever and eczema, according to the study.
NHANES III is a nationally representative survey conducted by the CDC between 1988 and 1994. About 10,500 persons participated in the skin testing performed as part of the survey. Researchers compared the participants' allergen responses with those seen during NHANES II, performed between 1976 and 1980.
The researchers' conclusion: The prevalence of positive skin responses was markedly increased in the most recent survey.
The study, jointly conducted by NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was published in the August issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. An abstract of the study is available free online.
On a related note, it is precisely because of the pervasiveness of asthma and other allergic conditions that several CME courses offered at the 2005 AAFP Scientific Assembly will discuss this topic.
