Association of bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis with IgE mediated allergy to common food allergens

Abstract

Background and objective: Prevalence of immunoglobulin (Ig) E-mediated food allergy is primarily reported in patients of all age groups. The present study was aimed to investigate the relative prevalence of food allergy andallergens in patients with bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis. Methods: Patients of all age groups and both sexes were screened using standard questionnaire and skin prick-test (SPT) with common foods. Specific IgE level was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and allergy wasestablished. Results: Of 575 patients screened, 120 (21%) gave history of food allergy. Of the history positive patients skin testedall showed a marked positive reaction to food extracts. Egg whole, black gram and lemon elicited marked positive SPT reaction in maximum of 12 (10%) cases each followed by rice, mushroom and corn in 11 cases each (9.1%), milk and cheese 10 cases each (8.3%), paneer and sardine fish 9 cases each (7.5%), maize and tamarind 8 cases each (6.6%), peanut and brinjal 7 cases each (5.8%), garlic and cabbage 4 cases each (3.3%), banana, sago and mutton 3 cases each (2.5%0, pineapple, pork, potato and almond with 2 cases each (1.6%), 1 case of beef, lady finger and drumstick (0.8%). The SPT positive patients showed elevated specific IgE levels (range: 0.8-79 IU/mL) againstrespective food allergens than normal controls (0.73 IU/mL, mean±2SD). The prevalence of food allergy was estimated to be 4.5% (2.6%-6.34%)at 95% confidence interval (95% CI) in test population (n=470). Conclusions: Food allergy is estimated to be 21% in adolescents and adults with asthma, rhinitis or both. Many food allergens were recorded as per the test.