Abstract
Objective To investigate the prevalence and features of ocular allergy (OA) and comorbidities among school children in Shanghai, China. Methods This was a population-based cross-sectional study. Each participant completed an ISAAC-based questionnaire. The prevalence of OA symptoms, allergic rhinitis (AR) asthma, atopic dermatitis (AD), and sensitization to mites, pollen, and food was analyzed. Results A total of 724 and 942 completed questionnaires from the 7–9-year-old (young group) and the 12–14-year-old (teen group) groups were analyzed, respectively. The overall prevalence of OA symptoms was 28%. However, more young students (10.6%) reported mild to severe daily life interference caused by OA than the teens (5.7%). The young group had higher prevalence of diagnosed allergic conjunctivitis (10.2%). The overall prevalence of AR symptom, diagnosed asthma, and diagnosed AD was 40.4%, 11.6%, and 16.7%, respectively. Young children had higher prevalence of diagnosed AR and AD than the teens. There were gender associated differences in the prevalence of AR and asthma among young children, but not among the teens. The comorbidities associated with OA was also analyzed. Sensitization to mites, food, and pollen was associated with higher prevalence of allergic conditions. Conclusions OA together with other allergic conditions affected a significant number of children in Shanghai.
Highlights
Ocular allergy (OA) is frequently associated with other allergic conditions such as rhinitis and asthma and treated as an associated symptom with nasal allergy [1, 2]
Attempts had been made to adopt questionnaires and survey methods of ISAAC to investigate the prevalence of OA and comparable data was generated among children from different regions [3, 5, 7]
There is a general paucity of data on the prevalence of OA in general population worldwide
Summary
Ocular allergy (OA) is frequently associated with other allergic conditions such as rhinitis and asthma and treated as an associated symptom with nasal allergy [1, 2] For this reason, the prevalence and characterizations of OA are often not surveyed individually and subsequently the data was scarce. Among reported studies on the prevalence of OA, the definition of the condition, the method used, and the targeted population of investigation varied significantly [3,4,5,6,7,8] These differences made estimating the prevalence of OA in general population and comparison among different regions and ethnic groups very difficult [9, 10]. Attempts had been made to adopt questionnaires and survey methods of ISAAC to investigate the prevalence of OA and comparable data was generated among children from different regions [3, 5, 7]
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