[Profile of a respiratory allergy department from computerized data collected between 1968 and 1984 (3962 cases)]

A prospective study of clinical, cutaneous and biological sensitivity to the common air-borne allergens was conducted over a 16-year period in a total of 3,962 patients who reported to a hospital consultation for respiratory allergy. The study confirmed certain widely recognized semiological features, but it did it on the basis of a real population with a large number of subjects and therefore was a true textbook of allergology with a live material. In addition, the study benefited from the major advantage of computer data processing: an accurate and rapid analysis. Yet some uncertainties and omissions remained concerning answers to certain questions, but such gaps are inherent in the natural subjectivity of allergic patients and their doctors.