Sensitizations to aeroallergens in Israel: Prevalences and profiles

Most of the literature on aeroallergen sensitization have been generated in North America and Western Europe.

To determine aeroallergen sensitization prevalences and patterns among patients with physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis (AR) in Israel.

We conducted a retrospective, observational study of sensitization to 20 aeroallergen extracts in skin prick tests (SPTs) among consecutive pediatric and adult patients with AR attending the allergy clinic at Emek Medical Center (Afula, Israel) and an affiliated regional outpatient clinic (Nazareth, Israel) from 2021 to 2023.

A total of 1993 patients (547 females, 27.4%) were included (median [range] age: 24 [6-82]). The five allergens or groups of allergens with the highest SPT positivity rates were house dust mite (HDM: Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and D. farinae; 74.8%), tree pollens (44.3%), olive pollen (34.1%), grass pollens (25.6%), and cat dander (22.6%). Of the 1993 patients, 947 (47.5%) had a positive SPT for just one of the 20 tested extracts. Patients sensitized to cat dander were significantly (12-fold) more likely to be sensitized to dog dander and vice versa. Patients living in an urban environment were more likely to be sensitized to cypress pollen (19.3% vs. 12.0% in a nonurban environment; p = 0.002, chi-squared test) and pellitory pollen (21.6% vs. 15.1%, respectively; p = 0.010, chi-squared test). Our suggestion is that in the Middle East, patients with symptoms of AR can be effectively screened with a standard "European" panel of allergen extracts for SPTs (such as that suggested by the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network [GA2LEN] organization), plus Johnson grass, Bermuda grass, and oak and eucalyptus pollen extracts.