A Kouhkan; Z Pour Pak; R Safar Ali Zadeh; Sh Teimourian; AR Firooz
Volume 9, Issue 2 , 2006, , Pages 143-149
Abstract
Background and aim: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, inflammatory, pruritic skin disease usually observed in patients with other allergies. Decreased selenium levels and improvement with selenium supplement are reported in AD. The aim of this study was to compare serum and whole blood selenium in ...
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Background and aim: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, inflammatory, pruritic skin disease usually observed in patients with other allergies. Decreased selenium levels and improvement with selenium supplement are reported in AD. The aim of this study was to compare serum and whole blood selenium in children with AD and control group.Materials and Methods: In an age-sex matched case-control study, 46 children with AD (according to Rajka & Hanifin criteria) and 46 controls were evaluated. The severity of AD was determined based on SCORAD index. Serum and whole blood selenium levels were measured and compared between two groups by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Chi-square and t tests were used for data analysis and P<0.05 was considered as significant.Results: Forty-six patients with age of 2.57±2.6 years and 46 controls with age of 2.63±2.6 years, each consisting of 24 boys and 22 girls were included (P>0.05). Mean serum selenium in patients (72.58±16.5 ng/ml) was significantly lower than controls (84.8±15.6 ng/ml) (P=0.0001). Mean whole blood selenium in patients (88.07±19.0 ng/ml) was significantly lower than controls (99.38±19.3 ng/ml)(P<0.001). Low serum selenium levels (less than 63 ng/ml) were observed in 28.3% of patients and 10.9% of controls (P<0.05). Low whole blood selenium levels (defined as less than 75.5 ng/ml) were observed in 30.4% of patients and 15.2% of controls (P>0.05). No significant correlations were observed between serum and whole blood selenium and severity of AD.Conclusion: The results confirm other studies that showed low selenium levels in AD. Our findings suggest that low selenium level may be involved in the pathophysiology of AD in childhood, and indicate nutritional status especially selenium levels might be a potentially useful strategy for the recognition and treatment of these patients.
Z Pourpak; M Mesdaghi; AR Zarinara; Sh Shahabi; B Rajabi; M Heidar Zadeh; A Kazemnejad; A Kouhkan; Gh.A Kardar
Volume 7, Issue 4 , 2004, , Pages 219-230
Abstract
Background: Latex allergy is a major occupational disease with prevalence nearly 5-17% among the health care workers. Objective: To determine the prevalence of latex glove allergy and its contributing factors among operation room staff. Patients and Methods: In this study, 512 operation room staff were ...
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Background: Latex allergy is a major occupational disease with prevalence nearly 5-17% among the health care workers. Objective: To determine the prevalence of latex glove allergy and its contributing factors among operation room staff. Patients and Methods: In this study, 512 operation room staff were evaluated for latex allergy, using a complete questionnaire. Those suspected to have latex allergy underwent these tests: Eosinophils counting, measurement of serum total and latex specific IgE, latex skin prick test, latex and glove additives patch test. Results: From evaluated staff, 178 (34.8%) had a history of sensitivity to latex gloves, from which 59 persons underwent the tests voluntarily. According to the results of the tests, 13 (22%) had type I allergy to latex, 3 (5.1%) had type IV allergy to latex and 9 (15.3%) had both allergies. There were no significant relationship between latex allergy and age, sex, job, season, family and personal history of allergies. Significant relationship was found between type I allergy to latex and allergy to kitchen gloves and also between type IV allergy and allergy to other plastic clothing. Conclusion: Prevalence of latex allergy in this study is much higher than similar studies, which demands more evaluation to determine the contributing factors.