Plant food allergy in patients with pollinosis from the Mediterranean area

Patients with pollinosis develop symptoms after intake of plant food more often than the general population. In order to study the prevalence of the presentation of allergic symptoms to plant foods in pollinosis, we selected a representative sample of the population from our Mediterranean area.

All patients completed a questionnaire, provided a blood sample and underwent a battery of skin and other complementary tests (prick-prick, oral challenge test) when necessary. The pollen counts were obtained from the Elche pollen station. In addition, sera from a subgroup of patients were checked with an allergen molecule panel on an Advia Centaur XP platform.

Of the final sample (n = 233), 39.9% of the patients with pollinosis were sensitized and 30.9% had clinical allergy to at least one of the plant foods studied. Regression analysis showed that age and sensitization to the extracts of Platanus acerifolia and Artemisia vulgaris were the most important variables for discriminating between groups. Patients with pollinosis at a risk of allergy to plant foods had significantly higher Pru p 3 values [odds ratio (OR) 3.3; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 2.3-4.8], and the value increased according to the number of plant food sensitizations.

Plant food allergy is more common in patients with pollinosis than in the general population. The use of the London plain tree (P. acerifolia) and mugwort (A. vulgaris) in the skin tests may help identify such patients in our Mediterranean area, but determination of rPru p 3 could also be very useful in patients suspected of having plant food allergy.