Incidence of food and aero allergies among patients visiting Allergy center National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad.

OBJECTIVE

To identify the most common allergy type among patients visiting an urban allergy centre.

METHODS

The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Allergy Centre of the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, Pakistan, from December 2019 to June 2020, and comprised subjects of either gender aged 20-50 years. Skin prick test was used to determine the skin reactivity for 11 common allergen extracts. Patients with a wheal diameter >3mm were considered positive. Data was analysed using SPSS 22.

RESULTS

Of the 100 patients, 55(55%) were males and 45(45%) were females. The overall mean age was 34.03±8.16 years. Majority of the respondents 93(93%) were sensitive to aeroallergen, 7(7%) to food allergens, and 2(2%) exhibited sensitivity against both types of allergens. Poly-sensitisation was found among 86(86%) respondents.

CONCLUSION

Aeroallergens were found to be the main triggering factor for allergies compared to the food allergens.