Abstract

We aimed to investigate latex hypersensitivity in atopic patients and to study the influence of several factors on latex hypersensitivity. The study included 223 consecutive patients with diagnoses of asthma, rhinitis or urticaria attending to our Asthma-Allergy Outpatient Clinics and 29 healthy subjects. The cases were divided into three groups with respect to atopy and history of illness: Group 1 included 151 atopic patients, Group 2 included 72 non-atopic patients and Group 3 included 29 healthy subjects. Latex allergy was investigated in all cases, whereas banana allergy was investigated in 229 cases with skin prick test. Positive skin prick test for latex was found in 33.8% of group 1, 15.3% of group 2 and 3.5% of group 3 (p<0.005). Positive skin prick test for latex was higher in cases with high titers of total IgE than in cases with normal titers of total IgE in group I (p<0.0001). Latex skin prick test positivity was higher in cases with positive banana skin prick test compared to cases with negative banana skin prick test in group 1 (p<0.0001) and group 2 (p<0.0005). Latex allergy was higher in cases with a previous history of operation than in cases with without a history of operation (p=0.08). Our results show that presence of atopy is a risk factor for latex hypersensitivity. Therefore, we conclude that when atopic subjects are exposed to latex products, the cases should be investigated with respect to latex allergy and necessary protective precautions should be taken for latex hypersensitivity in atopic cases.