Presentation of patients with asthma at an allergy clinic in Cape Town

A prospective study of 304 asthmatic patients attending the allergy clinic of a large teaching hospital in Cape Town was undertaken. Symptoms were overwhelmingly perennial despite a Mediterranean climate and the wealth of local flora. Allergic asthma started at any age and was frequently associated with other allergic symptoms which required treatment in their own right. Asthma in Coloured patients started later in life than in Whites and seasonal asthma was more frequent in the former group. Precipitating factors, the pattern of skin-prick test reactivity, the severity of asthma and its treatment were similar in the two groups. Serum IgE levels were higher and peripheral blood eosinophilia was more frequent in Coloureds than in Whites. Too few Black patients attended the clinic to allow for analysis.