Regional Differences in Sensitization Patterns Among Children with Allergic Asthma in China: A Latent Class Analysis...

To characterize regional and age-dependent sensitization patterns in Chinese children in clinical referral settings with allergic asthma using Latent Class Analysis (LCA).

This multicenter cross-sectional study (2019-2022) analyzed 580 children (aged 0-14 years) with diagnosed allergic asthma, strictly recruited from 13 tertiary referral centers across Northern and Southern China.

Standardized allergen-specific IgE (sIgE) testing for 18 allergens was performed using a unified platform. LCA was applied to identify distinct sensitization phenotypes, and age-related trajectories were examined.

LCA identified four distinct patterns per region with significant distributional differences. Northern children were characterized by a High Pollen/Weed pattern (Class 3), accounting for 38.9% of the cohort, with Artemisia vulgaris (53.0%) and Leucanthemum vulgare (50.0%) as primary sensitizers. In contrast, Southern children were dominated by a High Dust Mite pattern (Class 3), comprising 63.3% of the population. The prevalence of Dermatophagoides farinae sensitization in the South was 72.0%, significantly higher than in the North (). Furthermore, the 3-6-year age group demonstrated the highest sensitization intensity across both regions.

Sensitization phenotypes exhibit marked geographic heterogeneity, with plant pollens predominating in the North and dust mites in the South. While these findings support region-specific diagnostic strategies, they reflect patterns in a referral-center cohort and may imply a more severe clinical phenotype than the general population; thus, broader generalization should be approached with caution.