PP24 POSITIVE SKIN PRICK TESTS AMONG CHILDREN ATTENDING ASTHMA CLINIC IN AN URBAN MALAYSIAN SETTING

Jia Cherng Lee, Kah Peng Eg, Shih Ying Hng, Hajar Tubirin, Jessie de Bruyne, Anna Marie Nathan
Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Introduction:

There has been a steady increase in the prevalence of allergic diseases in children, especially in urban areas. The hygiene hypothesis is one possible environmental factor, whereby reduced exposure to infections in early life can lead to allergic diseases by defects in the establishment of immune tolerance. 

Objectives:

To determine (a) prevalence of positive skin prick tests to aeroallergens and ingested allergens and (b) time trends of positivity among children undergoing skin prick testing (SPT) in a paediatric asthma clinic.

Methodology:

We included information from all skin prick tests performed on children attending the Asthma & Allergy Clinic, UMMC, from 2012 to 2023. SPTs were performed to either determine aeroallergen sensitivity in children with asthma or confirm food allergy.  A positive SPT was taken as ≥ 3mm compared to the negative control.

Results:

Of the 271 children, 77.5% tested positive for at least one type of allergen. The majority (84.1%) were tested for aeroallergen sensitivity, of which 71.1% were positive to at least one aeroallergen. The commonest positive tests were to the house dust mites: Dermatophagoides farinae (62.6%), Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (60.2%) and Blomia tropicalis (54.2%). As for ingested allergens, 48.0% of children tested were positive for at least one food type: egg (34.5%), cow’s milk (33.8%), shellfish (25.5%) and peanuts (21.9%).  Time trend analysis indicated a general increase in the prevalence of SPT positivity to ingested allergens while SPT positivity to aeroallergen remained stable.

Conclusion:

Allergies are prevalent in Malaysian urban children. There was an increased prevalence of positive SPTs to food allergens, while the prevalence of positive SPTs to aeroallergens remained stable.