Seasonal variation in skin sensitivity to aeroallergens

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	Original Article  Open Access
	Allergy Asthma Immunol Res. 2013 Sep;5(5):301-308. English. Published online 2013 August 07.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4168/aair.2013.5.5.301  Copyright © 2013 The Korean Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology • The Korean Academy of Pediatric Allergy and Respiratory Disease Inseon S. Choi, Seung-Sin Lee, Eun Myeong, Jeong-Won Lee, Woo-Jin Kim and Joon Jin Department of Allergy, Chonnam National University Medical School and Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Gwangju, Korea.  Correspondence to: Inseon S. Choi, MD, PhD, Department of Allergy, Chonnam National University Medical School, 42 Jebong-ro, Dong-gu, Gwangju 501-757, Korea. Tel: +82-62-220-6571; Fax: +82-62-225-8578;Email: ischoi@chonnam.ac.kr  Received October 16, 2012; Revised January 28, 2013; Accepted March 20, 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 We previously demonstrated seasonal variation in sensitization to aeroallergens in a small group of patients with exercise-induced asthma. This study was performed to confirm the relationship in a much larger population. Methods The charts of 1,891 patients who received allergy skin prick tests were reviewed retrospectively. The test results from subjects aged ≤60 years were compared between the groups classified according to the season when the patients received the tests (spring: March-May, summer: June-August, fall: September-November, winter: December-February). The data from 25 respiratory allergy patients who received the tests two or more times and showed a positive response at least once were analyzed longitudinally. Results The most prevalent among 29 tested aeroallergens were house dust mites (HDMs) Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and D. farinae. The skin sensitization rates to D. pteronyssinus (23.2% vs. 32.1%, P=0.004) andD. farinae (22.2% vs. 30.2%, P=0.009) were significantly lower in the summer and higher in the fall (38.3% vs. 26.6% and 35.6% vs. 25.3%; P=0.001 respectively) than those in other seasons in patients with a respiratory allergy (n=1,102). The sensitization rates to weed pollens in the fall (13.9% vs. 8.3%, P=0.006) and toAspergillus fumigatus in the winter (2.9% vs. 0.7%, P=0.005) were significantly higher. In patients with non-respiratory allergy such as urticaria/anaphylaxis (n=340), the D. farinae sensitization rate was significantly lower in the summer also but higher in the spring. The trend of the HDM sensitization rate being lower in the summer and higher in the fall was observed in the longitudinal study. Conclusions Skin sensitivity to aeroallergens such as HDMs, pollens, and molds demonstrates seasonal variation in respiratory allergy patients. Non-respiratory allergy patients also showed seasonal variation in sensitivity to aeroallergens, which might be related to the "priming" effect of allergens. Keywords: Seasonal variation, skin sensitivity, aeroallergens, allergy. Original Article  Open Access