Association between pet ownership and the sensitization to pet allergens in adults with various allergic diseases

Original Article  Open Access

Allergy Asthma Immunol Res. 2013 Sep;5(5):295-300. English. Published online 2013 June 25.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4168/aair.2013.5.5.295  Copyright © 2013 The Korean Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology • The Korean Academy of Pediatric Allergy and Respiratory Disease Yong-Bum Park, Eun-Kyung Mo, Jae-Young Lee, Joo-Hee Kim, Cheol-Hong Kim, In-Gyu Hyun, and Jeong-Hee Choi Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea. Lung Research Institute of Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea.  Correspondence to: Jeong-Hee Choi, MD, PhD, Department of Pulmonology and Allergy, Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, 7 Keunjaebong-gil, Hwaseong 445-170, Korea. Tel: +82-31-8086-2928; Fax: +82-31-8086-2482; Email: mdqueen@hallym.or.kr  Received January 09, 2013; Revised February 05, 2013; Accepted February 08, 2013. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. : Abstract Purpose As pet ownership increases, sensitization to animal allergens due to domestic exposure is a concern. Sensitization to animal allergens may occur from indirect exposure, as well as direct ownership of animals. However, there have been conflicting results regarding the association between pet ownership and sensitization to animal allergens in adults. Methods In total, 401 patients with various allergic diseases were enrolled in this study. We performed skin prick tests with 55 common inhalant and food allergens, including dog, cat, and rabbit allergens. A mean wheal diameter of 3 mm or greater was considered a positive reaction. The exposure modality to each animal allergen was investigated using a questionnaire and included present ownership, past ownership, occupational exposure, occasional exposure, contact with pet owner, and no contact. Present ownership, past ownership, occupational, and occasional exposure were regarded as direct exposure. Results The sensitization rate for animal allergens was 20.4% for dog, 15.0% for cat, and 9.0% for rabbit. Direct exposure to dogs (72.0%) was significantly higher than that of other animals (18.4% for cats and 16.7% for rabbits), whereas 'no contact' with cats (78.3%) and rabbits (83.3%) was significantly higher than with dogs (26.8%; P-0.0001). Independent risk factors for sensitization to animal allergens were sensitization toDermatophagoides pteronyssinus (OR=2.4, P=0.052), Dermatophagoides farinae (OR=5.1, P-0.001), cat (OR=4.4, P-0.0001), and direct exposure to dogs (OR=1.5, P=0.029) for dog, and sensitization to dog (OR=4.4, P-0.0001) and rabbit (OR=2.6, P=0.036) for cats. Finally, for rabbits, the independent risk factor was sensitization to Alternaria (OR=6.0, P-0.002). Conclusions These results suggest that direct exposure to dogs contributes to the sensitization to dog allergens in patients with allergic diseases, whereas indirect exposure to cats and rabbits may induce sensitization to each animal's allergen. Keywords: Cats, dogs, rabbits, pets, ownership, sensitization. Original Article  Open Access