Allergen sensitivity profile among symptomatic children: A descriptive study from North India

BACKGROUND: As allergic disorders are increasing across all age groups, we aim to detect the common offending allergens in various allergic disorders with respiratory, gastrointestinal, or skin manifestations in children between the age group of 2 months and 18 years from the northern part of India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in patients aged between 2 months and 18 years residing in North India having allergic symptoms such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, the combination of allergic rhinitis and asthma, eczema, urticaria, or gastrointestinal symptoms. All the patients underwent skin prick tests (SPTs) for different allergens, which were selected on the basis of history. RESULTS: A total of 458 patients were enrolled in the study with male: female ratio of 1.7:1. Based on the results of SPT, the most common offending allergens in different allergic manifestations were shortlisted. Patients with respiratory system involvement, the common allergens were house dust mites (HDM) and cockroaches, followed by mosquitoes. Most of the patients with gastrointestinal symptoms have sensitization due to egg white, followed by soybean flour. In children having skin manifestations, sensitization to HDM was most commonly seen. HDM is also responsible in patients having two system involvement such as respiratory with skin and respiratory with gastrointestinal whereas the groundnut was responsible in patients having gastrointestinal along with skin manifestations. CONCLUSION: This study contributed in delineating the most prevalent offending allergens in children of North India with various allergic disorders.