RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Infantile asthma and rhinitis are commonly thought to be caused by indoor allergens but preschooler children are not commonly skin tested. OBJECTIVE: To know the frequency of skin test reactivity to indoor allergens in allergic preschooler children. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We evaluated 176 children (103 females/73 males) between 2 and 5 years old with respiratory allergy. All of the children tested had at least one positive skin test (house dust mite, cockroach, dog, feathers, and cat). RESULTS: Seventy seven children had allergic rhinitis (44%), 68 had asthma and rhinitis (39%), and 31 had only asthma (18%). One hundred thirty two (75%) of the children were skin test positive to house dust mite, 91 (52%) to cockroach, 31 (18%) to dog, 25 (14%) to feathers, and 24 (14%) to cat. Furthermore, the frequency of sensitization to house dust mite has an increase associated with the age of the patients with a significant difference at 5 years old (odds ratio=11.63, I.C. 95%=3.83-37.10; p <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The most frequent indoor allergen was house dust mite, with a trend directly proportional to age of the patients.
