Abstract:

Objective To characterize food allergen sensitization status in patients with allergic rhinitis(AR) and nonallergic rhinitis(NAR), and to explore its potential value in the diagnosis and control of these diseases.
Methods Totally 513 AR patients(including 51 children under 14 years of age) and 70 NAR patients who were also allergic to one or more food allergens were involved in this retrospective study at Beijing Tongren Hospital.
Results Curry(43.3%), shrimp(30.0%), peach(20.5%), pineapple(11.9%), peanuts(11.3%) and spinach(10.5%) were the top 6 concurrent food allergens in AR patients. In children with AR, the major concurrent food allergens were curry(58.8%), peach（23.5%）, shrimp（21.6%）, fruits（11.8%）spinach（11.8%）and wheat（11.8%）. Of AR patients who were sensitive to plant-food allergen, 70.1% were found also allergic to pollens. Similar food allergen sensitization status was seen in NAR patients, with the most common sensitization to curry(30.0%), peach(28.6%), pineapple(14.3%), shrimp(12.9%) and carp(10.0%), successively.
Conclusion Curry and plant-food sensitization was often seen in AR patients. There might be cross-reactivity between pollens and plant-food allergens.

Key words: food allergen, aeroallergen, allergic rhinitis, non-allergic rhinitis, sensitization