Prevalence and screening of specific aeroallergens in Chinese male patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A retrospective cross-sectional observational study.

Abstract

Sensitization to aeroallergens was linked to severe symptoms and frequent exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Elevated serum total immunoglobulin E (tIgE) level is a hallmark of allergic COPD patients. Phadiatop test exhibited high sensitivity for predicting specific aeroallergens (SAs) sensitization. However, the prevalence of aeroallergens, the value of Phadiatop test, alone or combined with tIgE, for predicting aeroallergens sensitization in male COPD patients have not been explored in China. To explore the prevalence and predictors of aeroallergens in the context of COPD. The predictive value of Phadiatop test for SAs sensitization in male COPD patients was analyzed via the area under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs). The top five SAs in the context of COPD were d2, mx2, i6, d1, and tx5, of which the seasonal distribution showed no significant differences. Allergic group showed higher levels of blood eosinophils, total Phadiatop IgE and tIgE than the nonallergic group (all P ≤ 0.001). The AUCs of total Phadiatop IgE and tIgE for predicting the sensitization to SAs, SAs excluding mx2 (AEM) and mx2 were ((0.921 vs. 0.879, P=0.2522), (0.967 vs. 0.807, P = 0.0003), and (0.780 vs. 0.883, P<0.05)) (AUCPhadiatop vs AUCtIgE ), respectively. The combined application of these two parameters (model) increased the AUC of SAs, significantly higher than the single parameter used (P<0.05 for all). d2, mx2, i6, and d1 were the top four SAs sensitized in male COPD patients; Phadiatop test was valuable for predicting the sensitization to SAs when it was > 0.13 kAU/L.