[Airborne immediate allergy in Mid-North Iceland.].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate main causes of airborne immediate allergy in a region of one primary health care center with about 17,000 inhabitants in the northern part of Iceland, both in general and with special reference to diagnoses.


METHODS
Totally 600 individuals with symptoms indicating airborne immediate allergy were investigated under the periode 1988-1995. Skin prick test (SPT) was used in a standardized way and with standardized solutions. Histamine 10 mg/ml was used as a positive control and positive results were defined as at least half as big as the histamine reaction.


RESULTS
47% of investigated individuals had positive SPT. Grass gave most often positive response and animal dander from cat were in the second place. The allergy symptoms start in more than half of the cases under the age of 16. House dust mites allergy are confirmed in only about 10% of the cases. Mean age of patients who came to the health care center with allergy is 23+/-13 years and 34+/-17 years of those without allergy and the difference is significant in both sexes (p<0.001). When patients with grass pollen allergy are divided into two groups, those with and those without a family history (parents or siblings) of allergy, it is evident that those with a family history get their allergic disease significantly earlier in life than those without a family history (p<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Immediate airborne allergy is, as is quite well known, mostly a disease of children and young people. By far the most common cause in Mid-North Iceland is grasspollen as in South-West Iceland. Birch pollen is more common in the northern part, probably because of a different vegetation. Age distribution in the whole group without regard to diagnosis is the same as in South-West Iceland where patients with chronic rhinitis were investigated. Storage mite Lepidoglyphus destructor is often positive in those working with hay and it should be included in standard panel for skin prick tests in Northern Iceland.
Olafsson
M
M
Gislason
D
D