Asthma, the chronic inflammatory condition of the airways, is often linked to allergies in young people, which are then said to trigger the condition.
However, new research has thrown more light on the incidence of allergic sensitisation in adults and children with asthma, revealing that there is no little difference in the numbers in each group affected by allergies. The findings challenge the long-held view that young people are more likely to have allergy-induced asthma symptoms and attacks and recommend that doctors should test older asthma patients for allergies.
Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York, analysed the data of 151 adults with asthma to compare the rates of allergic sensitisation. The participants were split into two age groups – those aged 20-40 and those aged 55 years plus – and the groups balanced in terms of gender, race, ethnicity and education. All had taken part in the National Health and Nutrition Survey 2005-06 in the US.
The research found that the rate of allergic sensitisation in the younger age group was 75.4% compared with 65.2% in the older group, a difference that is considered non-significant in statistical terms.
There was also little difference in the allergic sensitisation rate between those in the older age group whose asthma had developed before they reached the age of 40 and those diagnosed with the condition after that age.
The results of the study were published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. The study’s authors concluded that doctors should consider their findings when treating older patients, testing them for allergic sensitisation and offering advice on making changes to their living or working environment where triggers such as dust or hair are most prevalent.
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