Addressing the increasing incidence of allergic diseases in young working individuals and their effective management with sublingual immunotherapy in Mumbai

Background: Allergic disease are on an increase in office workers and students, due to increasing climate change and environmental exposure Objective: To define the role of the skin prick test in identifying common inhalant allergens in allergic rhinitis patients and selecting the allergens for optimum sublingual immunotherapy Methods: 773 patients were tested in Mumbai from November 2018 to December 2023 by skin prick test. Sublingual Immunotherapy was initiated in 301 patients. Pre and post-therapy SNOT22 symptom score was noted for 3-6 months in a subset of 50 patients. Results: It was found that 52% were in the age group 20-40 with almost equal male /female ratio, 95% had primarily allergic rhinitis, house dust mites 84%, with pollen to be second, 63% each being Prosopis and A maranthus. 40% opted for sublingual immunotherapy, out of which results of a subset of 35 %( 50) in the first 6 months, showed significant improvement verified by statistical analysis Conclusion: Allergic rhinitis is fairly prevalent in both office workers and students due to dust exposure, and poor environmental hygiene. Important allergens are House dust mites and pollen are the major allergens. Skin prick test is the method of choice for diagnosis and selection of allergens. Sublingual immunotherapy is the safest and most effective way of symptom control.