IGE CONCENTRATIONS IN CHILDREN WITH ATOPIC DISEASES - A CLINICAL STUDY

In 94 children who were investigated and treated at the Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital, Uppsala, for symptoms of atopic diseases (asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic eczema), determinations were made of the serum concentrations of IgE. As a comparative material, 81 children with asthma who had undergone allergologic investigation at the Department of Pediatrics in Oslo (Associate Professor Kjell Aas) were used. In 10 children with pollen allergy in the present series the IgE levels were studied during and after the pollination season, and in 37 children repeated IgE determinations were made during specific desensitization therapy. In patients in whom allergy tests gave negative results, only slightly higher mean IgE concentrations were found than in completely healthy persons. The children with positive allergy tests, on the other hand, with the exception of those in whom only hypersensitivity to dust or mould was found, had, on the average, high or very high serum concentrations of IgE. In patients with pollen allergy it was found that the IgE levels varied seasonally. These patients had more than twice as high mean IgE concentrations during than before the pollination season. Patients with perennial asthma symptoms had markedly higher IgE concentrations than those whose asthma symptoms were essentially seasonal. A probable explanation for this is repeated or continuous exposure to allergens in the children with perennial symptoms. On rush desensitization, the IgE concentrations increased markedly in the majority of children during the first weeks of treatment, and this increase was statistically significant as early as 3–4 days after the start of the treatment. © 1969 S. Karger AG, Basel.