[Prevalence of allergic diseases in the elderly].

BACKGROUND: A population aged 65 and over has been increasing in many countries, including Mexico. Allergic diseases are common in this age group, asthma prevalence has been reported between 2 and 17% in elderly people. There is no data about allergic diseases prevalence in elderly Mexican people.
OBJECTIVE: To know the prevalence of some allergic diseases, allergen sensitization and total IgE serum concentration in a sample of subjects older than 60 years residents in Mexico City. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We included 333 elderly subjects, were included 281 females (84%) and 52 males, with an age-average of 67.2 +/- 5.4, who were attending a social security recreative center. Medical files were made to each one elderly subject, including atopic personal history; skin tests were performed with 10 allergens, histamine and negative controls; and total serum IgE was measured by ELISA. Analysis was made with descriptive statistics, Spearman's coefficient and chi square.
RESULTS: Allergic diseases were present in 10.8% of the subjects, asthma in 3.6%, allergic rhinitis in 3.6%, urticaria in 2.7%, atopic dermatitis in 0.6% and allergic conjunctivitis in 0.3%, 24% had data of adverse drug reactions and 6.9% referred venom insect hypersensitivity. Skin tests results were positive in 84 subjects (25.2%). In the group of 60-69 years it was observed a significant increase in IgE concentration (p < 0.01), we didn't find a significant correlation between IgE levels and both allergic symptoms and skin tests results.
CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of allergic diseases, total IgE levels and allergen sensitization in elderly people were similar to studies in other countries, but with a lower pattern than in younger Mexican population.