Beta
199528

Ragweed sensitization in Egyptian children with bronchial asthma

Article

Last updated: 03 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

Background: Ragweed pollen is a frequent cause of respiratory allergy globally. Published data on ragweed pollen sensitivity among Egyptian children are scant. With our low rainfall seasons and high temperatures, weed pollens are expected to be abundant. We therefore sought to investigate ragweed pollen sensitization among a group of atopic asthmatic children in relation to their clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: This cross-sectional study comprised 100 children, 6 to 12 years old, with physician-diagnosed bronchial asthma enrolled consecutively from the Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Unit, Children's Hospital, Ain Shams University, Cairo. Sensitization to ragweed was assessed using skin prick testing (SPT). Results: Ragweed sensitization was observed in 41% of the studied children. The wheal diameters ranged between 3 and 8 mm [mean (SD) = 5.15 (1.53) mm] and the corresponding flare values were 13 – 25 mm [18.59 (3.18) mm]. Ragweed sensitization was more prevalent in suburban and rural residents compared to those living in urban regions (p =0.413). Severity of asthma, frequency of flare ups and response to treatment did not influence the rates of ragweed sensitization in our series. Conclusion: Ragweed sensitization seems common among Egyptian children with bronchial asthma; however, it did not impact the severity of asthma or response to treatment. The findings are limited by the sample size. Wider scale studies involving various locations of our country are needed to accurately outline the significance of this allergen.

DOI

10.21608/ejpa.2021.199528

Authors

First Name

Elham

Last Name

Hossny

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Professor of Pediatrics Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Unit, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Email

elham.hossny@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ghada

Last Name

Shousha

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

The Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Unit, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Email

gh.a.haliem@hotmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Mohamed

Last Name

Abd El Kader

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Pediatrics, Misr University for Science and Technology

Email

-

City

Cairo

Orcid

-

First Name

Ruqaya

Last Name

Mansour

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Pediatrics, Misr University for Science and Technology

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

19

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

28145

Issue Date

2021-10-01

Receive Date

2021-08-03

Publish Date

2021-10-01

Page Start

65

Page End

70

Print ISSN

1687-1642

Online ISSN

2314-8934

Link

https://ejpai.journals.ekb.eg/article_199528.html

Detail API

https://ejpai.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=199528

Order

3

Type

Original Article

Type Code

643

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

The Egyptian Journal of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology

Publication Link

https://ejpai.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Ragweed sensitization in Egyptian children with bronchial asthma

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023