Influence of non-pharmacological interventions on inhaled allergen
sensitization in children during the COVID-19 pandemic
Abstract
Objective: To explore the impact of non-pharmacological
interventions on inhaled allergen sensitization in children during the
COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The positive rate of inhaled
allergens, allergens sIgE grade, and multiple sensitization rates before
and during the pandemic were analyzed retrospectively in this study.
Logistic regression analysis was used to compare the positive rate of
allergens before and after the pandemic, using OR and OR 95%CI to
investigate the impact of the pandemic on allergen sensitization.
Results:Positive rates of d1(49.5% vs 38.5%), d2 (50.2% vs
32.2%), e2(10.1% vs 6.1%), e1(6.2% vs 1.7%), mx2(10.1% vs 2.7%),
sycamore (7.2% vs 2.1%), w1(4.0% vs 1.7%),elm(3.1% vs 0.6%),
w6(3.0% vs 1.7%), and u80(1.3% vs 0.5%) increased significantly
during the COVID-19 pandemic. After adjusting gender, age, season and
other potential influencing factors, the COVID-19 pandemic was found to
be a risk factor for the positive rate of d1(
OR=1.174,95%CI=1.015~1.358), d2(
OR=1.301,95%CI=1.093~1.549), e2(
OR=1.499,95%CI=1.280~1.756), mx2(
OR=3.959,95%CI=3.358~4.446), w1( OR=1.828,
95%CI=1.353~2.470, w6( OR=1.538,
95%CI=1.123~2.106)), u80( OR=2.521,
95%CI=1.413~4.497) ( P<0.05). What’s
more, d1 and d2 allergen sIgE grades increased during the COVID-19
pandemic(d1 :X2=9.576,P<0.05;d2
:X2=39.063,P<0.05). The proportion
of multiple allergies was significantly higher than that before the
pandemic, with a statistical significance (
X2=1621.815, P<0.05).
Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, non-pharmacological
interventions increased the positive rate of both indoor and outdoor
allergens in children. The sIgE grade of dust mite allergen and multiple
sensitization rate were significantly higher than those before COVID-19.