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Cockroach sensitivity in allergic rhinitis patients; is it significant? To see prevalence of cockroach sensitivity in allergic rhinitis patients in Kingston area

Background

Role of cockroach allergy in asthma has been widely studied and the effect of environmental control on asthma symptoms has been established. However, the role of cockroach sensitivity remains unknown. We have designed this study to establish role of cockroach sensitization on allergic rhinitis.

Hypothesis

Cockroach allergy has significant role in allergic rhinitis

Population

Allergic rhinitis patients attending allergy and clinical immunology clinic under Dr Rozita Borici-Mazi in Kingston General Hospital, Kingston ON

Method

Retrospective chart review of patients evaluated for allergic rhinitis and underwent skin prick testing. A cohort of 250 patients was randomly selected with inclusion criteria being symptomatic allergic rhinitis and positive allergy skin prick testing to usual panel of allergens. Data collection included demographics, smoking exposure, symptom pattern, presence or absence of non-nasal symptoms, positive skin prick testing for cockroach and other environmental allergens such as dust mite, cat, dog, and seasonal pollens.

Results

Allergy to seasonal allergens was found to be the most common (n=191, 76.4%) followed by house dust mite (n=149, 59.6%) and cat allergen (n=118, 47.2%). Cockroach sensitization was found in 62 (25%). Among the cockroach sensitivity group, 8 patients had monosensitization to cockroach. All of them had perennial symptoms. 75%of these people were residents of urban areas. Two patients who had symptoms for more than 8 years had developed asthma.

Conclusion

Cockroach allergy is found to be one of the significant indoor allergens in allergic rhinitis in Kingston area. Given the relationship of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma development, there is need to recognize this important allergen earlier and treat it through allergen avoidance and/or Immunotherapy, not only to treat allergic rhinitis symptoms but also to prevent development of allergic asthma. Further studies to establish the correlation between allergic rhinitis and cockroach sensitization are needed.

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Correspondence to Tahira Batool.

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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Batool, T., Borici-Mazi, R. Cockroach sensitivity in allergic rhinitis patients; is it significant? To see prevalence of cockroach sensitivity in allergic rhinitis patients in Kingston area. All Asth Clin Immun 6 (Suppl 2), P11 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1186/1710-1492-6-S2-P11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1710-1492-6-S2-P11

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