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Evaluation of allergic sensitization in Lebanese patients with allergic conjunctivitis

International Ophthalmology volume 38, pages 2041–2051 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

To describe the profile of patients with allergic conjunctivitis (AC) regarding their demographics, symptomatology and specific allergen sensitization, in a Lebanese tertiary hospital.

Methods

Cross-sectional study conducted at the Hôtel-Dieu de France hospital (Beirut, Lebanon) during a period of 18 months. Patients with seasonal or perennial AC presenting for ophthalmic consultation had measurements of total and specific IgE. A matching group of patients with AC seen at the allergist office during the same period underwent skin prick tests (SPTs).

Results

Forty-four patients were enrolled for blood work by their ophthalmologists. Seasonal and perennial forms were almost equivalent. In total, 56.8% had positive specific IgE, with higher prevalence in patients with seasonal AC (p = 0.002), other associated allergies particularly allergic rhinitis (p = 0.002) or a family history of allergy (p = 0.005). Ocular surface severity scales were not shown as predictors. High levels of total IgE were commonly detected in those with positive specific IgE. Thirty-eight patients were assessed with SPT, and all had a positive result for at least one allergen. Dust mites were found to be the most frequent allergens based upon both specific IgE (72%) and SPT (92%), followed by Parietaria and other pollens.

Conclusion

In our study, dust mites mono- or co-sensitization is present in the majority of patients with AC, with odds of positivity being higher using SPT than specific IgE. The latter are found more readily in seasonal AC and in the presence of personal and family history of allergy.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Research Council of the Saint Joseph University of Beirut, which provided necessary funding for laboratory workup (Grant # FM237).

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon

    Nicolas Arej, Youssef Abdelmassih, Elise Slim, Joelle Antoun, Riad Bejjani & Naji Waked

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon

    Carla Irani

  3. Hôtel-Dieu de France Hospital, Blvd. Alfred Naccache, Achrafieh, P.O. Box: 166830, Beirut, Lebanon

    Nicolas Arej, Carla Irani, Youssef Abdelmassih, Riad Bejjani, Alexandre Schakal & Naji Waked

Authors
  1. Nicolas Arej
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  2. Carla Irani
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  3. Youssef Abdelmassih
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  4. Elise Slim
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  5. Joelle Antoun
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  6. Riad Bejjani
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  7. Alexandre Schakal
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  8. Naji Waked
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicolas Arej.

Ethics declarations

Compliance with ethical standards

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Questionnaire

figure a

Juniper et al. [10].

Appendix 2: Objective criteria evaluating AC severity

Ten objective ocular clinical findings of conjunctival, limbal and corneal lesions were graded on a four-point scale (0 = none, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate, 3 = severe; left and right eye separately in each case; see Table 6 for details). The total score of ten findings, with a maximum of 30, taking the score of the more severe side in bilateral cases, was used as the clinical score [11].

Table 6 Criteria for clinical evaluation of allergic ocular findings
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Arej, N., Irani, C., Abdelmassih, Y. et al. Evaluation of allergic sensitization in Lebanese patients with allergic conjunctivitis. Int Ophthalmol 38, 2041–2051 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-017-0696-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-017-0696-y

Keywords

  • Airborne allergen
  • Allergen-specific IgE
  • Allergic conjunctivitis
  • Conjunctiva
  • Skin prick test