Relationship between housing environment and allergic symptoms of children using ATS-DLD questionnaires

Using pupils in three areas with different environmental factors (Suginami-ku, Tokyo: Aikawa-machi, Kanagawa prefecture: and Shimizu-shi, Shizuoka prefecture) as subjects, respiratory symptoms and domestic environment were surveyed by meams of the American Thoratic Society-Division of Lung Disease (ATS-DLD) questionnaires together with measurement of total immunoglobulin E (IgE) by the radioimmunosorbent test (RIST) and specific mite and cedar IgE by the radioallergosorbent test (RAST), as well as the relationship between "allergic symptoms" as designated in the ATS-DLD questionnaire and housing structure. The following knowledge was obtained. According to the ATS-DLD standardized questionnaires for prevalence of respiratory symptoms and allergic symptoms, Aikawa showed a significantly low value of 8.5% (p less than 0.001) compared with 15.8% for Suginami and 15.7% for Shimizu, referring to allergic rhinitis only. The positive rate of 300 U/ml and over of total IgE was 55.5% in Suginami, 49.1% in Shimizu and 40.4% in Aikawa. Aikawa showed the lowest the positive rate of total IgE in allergic symptoms. The housing was classified into three types according to the original structure each of which had characteristic ventilation rates. The positive rates according to the housing structure showed no differences by areas for Type A (wooden house) with good ventilation, but for Types B (mortar frame house) and C (steel reinforced frame house) with airtight structures, the rates increased in the order of Aikawa less than Shimizu less than Suginami, and a significant difference was observed between Aikawa and Suginami (p less than 0.01). However, in the same area no difference was noted between Type A and Types B and C. No difference in the positive rate of allergic experiences by housing structure, was noted among areas and housing structures in the same area for the group not experiencing allergic symptoms (A. Inexp. Group), while no difference was noted for Type A but the rates were high in the order of 60.0% in Aikawa, 65.2% in Shimizu and 75.3% in Suginami for Types B and C in the group experiencing allergic symptoms (A. Exp. Group). Furthermore, in the same area when the Type A was compared with Types B and C, the latter showed a higher positive rate than the formar in all three areas, with a significant difference (p less than 0.05) noted in Suginami.