title: Association of life style with high risk of hyperimmunity and of immunosuppression mediated by IgE.
abstract: To test the hypothesis that the increase in allergic prevalence is related not only to environmental allergens, but also to comprehensive life style, we administered to 733 workers at a hard metal plant a questionnaire that included 17 physical and mental health practices. We have shown that eight practices are associated with increases or decreases of total and specific IgE levels, serving to keep them within the normal range (5-400 IU/ml), after controlling for age, sex, and environmental factors. Further confirmation of the definite effect of life style on allergic reactions comes from higher heritability among younger pairs of identical twins of total IgE levels and allergic disorders than among older pairs of identical twins. A marked synergism was found among Undesirable life-style factors as bipolar high-risk factors for the development of allergic diseases or immunosuppression characterized by low natural killer (NK) cell activity through which soluble low-affinity IgE receptor is kept low. An effort to practice Desirable life styles, therefore, may be of benefit in reducing the risk of immunoallergic disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene and Prevention Medicine, Osaka University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shirakawa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morimoto
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology*; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology*; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D008019:Life Style; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D007073:Immunoglobulin E