The correlation between allergy sensitization rate in pediatric and aerobiological study for airborne pollen in Busan for 15 years

Purpose: Airborne pollenis the most common causative agents of allergic disease. Since 2000, there isn't no more report about airborne pollenin Busan. This study is that pollenin one area of Busan was collected to investigate species, particle counts, seasonal distribution, and of its correlation with reactivity to skin prick test in children during 1998–2012. Methods: Rotorod sampler was installed on the rooftop of St. Mary Hospital in Busan. A 24-hour sampling of airborne allergensover a fifteen-year period was conducted 6 days/wk from January 1, 1998 to December 31, 2012. After staining they were identified, counted and recorded with the weather in Busan. Results: Major pollenscollected were Pine, Alder, Oak, Juniperus, Humulus. The pollenseason is relatively short and the pollendispersed mainly during the period from March to May in case of tree pollen, from April to September in case of grass pollenand from August to October in case of weed pollen. Total annual pollen countranged from 36,412 grains/m (2002) to 1,342 grains/m (2006). The peak pollenseason was seen for spring and autumn, especially in May and September during 1998–2012. In skin prick tests, birch was the highest sensitization rate (15.1%), followed by alder (14.7%), hazel (14.1%) in the tree for 15 years. And in weed, mugwortand ragweedwere the highest sensitization rate (10.6%, 10.3%), followed by humulus(5.5%) for 15 years, but since 2008, was increased. Conclusion: Analysis of pollenssampled in the atmosphere of Busan, Korea, for a 15-year period identified 24 species of pollenswith seasonal variation of some clinically important pollenload. Analysis of data, it showed that alder and birch are main allergen in spring for 15 years, and in 1998–2008, ragweedand artemisia was main allergen in fall, since 2009, followed by humulus. (Allergy Asthma Respir Dis 2014;2:38-47)