title: Food hypersensitivity in adult patients with atopic dermatitis in Korea.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is known that atopic dermatitis (AD) is associated with food or environmental allergens and increased levels of serum IgE. However, the role of hypersensitivity to food antigens in adult patients remains controversial.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association between food hypersensitivity and AD in 126 adult Korean participants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with AD were assessed for a previous history of food hypersensitivity that aggravated the symptoms of AD. Blood samples were taken from the patients to measure food allergen-specific IgE. Based on history and laboratory results, open oral food challenge (OFC) tests were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 126 participants, 33 (26.2%) claimed to have experienced previous food hypersensitivity. Both pork and wheat (n = 5 each) were the main foods mentioned, followed by beef (n = 4) and shellfish (n = 3). We found that 20 participants (15.9%) had raised levels of food-specific IgE, with beef (n = 7), pork (n = 6), milk (n = 5) and wheat (n = 5) being the most common (some patients had more than one). However, when the open OFC tests were conducted in 48 participants with self-reported food hypersensitivity or raised levels of food-specific IgE, only one showed a positive reaction; this participant had a previous history of pork consumption exacerbating AD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although some participants claimed to have a history of AD aggravation related to food intake, when an open OFC test was conducted, few of them had positive results. Our study result indicates that there is a positive reaction rate of only 0.79% for adults. We therefore conclude that adults are less sensitive than children with regard to the association between AD and food hypersensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Y-S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Y-S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Byun
authors.forename: J-H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: H-O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: C-W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D015415:Biomarkers; D007073:Immunoglobulin E