European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Background:  Aeroallergens may trigger symptoms in sensitized children with asthma. Documentation of sensitization is crucial to enable effective implementation of measures to prevent asthma exacerbations. Aeroallergen sensitization is a risk factor in the development of childhood asthma, and most commonly implicated allergens are house dust mite (HDM), cockroach, and furred animals. Aeroallergen sensitization can be evaluated using either skin testing or measuring specific IgE to these aeroallergens. Skin prick testing (SPT) is an easy, cost-effective and convenient approach to identify sensitization to allergens. Materials and methods: This is a prospective study and observational study was conducted in the Department of Pediatrics at Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital over a period of 1 year. The skin-prick test (SPT) results from very young children with the diagnosis of asthma (2 years) who were referred for testing for aeroallergen sensitization were analyzed within the last 4 years. All children had a history of at least three wheezing attacks with good response to bronchodilators and had been diagnosed with asthma by their referring physicians. Result: The total number of the patients included in the study was 90 patients, of the 59 (65.6%) male and 31 (34.4%) female. The frequency of each group. Out of 90 children in the study, 60 children were found sensitive to at least one aeroallergen and 30 were no sensitivity for all aeroallergens. The highest prevalence of positive skin reaction was recorded for mite allergens among them Dermatophytosis pteronyssinus (50%), D. farinae (33.3%). Conclusion: The majority of children with asthma have positive skin prick tests for 1 or more of aeroallergens. House dust mite was the most common positivity aeroallergens. However, there was no statistically significant association of positive skin prick test with asthma control.