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Allergy Statistics
- Estimates from a skin test survey suggest that allergies affect more than 50 million people in the United States.1
- Allergic disease is the 5th leading chronic disease in the United States among all ages, and the 3rd common chronic disease among children under 18 years old.2
- A recent nationwide survey found that more than half (54.6%) of all U.S. citizens test positive to one or more allergens.3
- The costs associated with allergic disease are extraordinarily high: one analysis estimated it at $7.9 billion per year, of which $4.5 billion was spent on direct care and $3.4 billion on indirect costs, related primarily to lost work productivity.4
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- Allergic rhinitis is believed to affect 20% of all adults and up to 40% of children. 5
- Approximately 16.7 million physician office visits each year are attributed to allergic rhinitis. 6
- Immunotherapy is ultimately successful in up to 90% of patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis and in 70 to 80% with perennial allergic rhinitis.7
- Allergic rhinitis and asthma are the two leading causes of absenteeism due to chronic illness. 8
- On any given day, 10,000 American children miss school because of allergic rhinitis, for an annual total of 2 million lost school days. 9
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- Sinusitis develops in approximately 31 million Americans each year.10
- Chronic sinusitis affects nearly 37 million people in the United States.11
- People suffering from sinusitis miss an average of four days of work each year.11
- There are more than 18 million office visits to primary care physicians resulting in a diagnosis of sinusitis annually.11
- There is an association between sinusitis and asthma. The incidence of sinusitis in asthmatic subjects ranges from 40 to 75%.11
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- Allergic drug reactions account for 5 to 10% of all adverse drug reactions, with skin reaction being the most common form.12
- Allergic drug reactions account for approximately 5% of all hospital admissions and occur in up to 20% of hospitalized patients. 13
- Penicillin is a common cause of drug allergy. Anaphylactic reactions to penicillin cause 400 deaths.14
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- Allergic dermatitis (itchy rash) is the most common skin condition in children younger than 11 years of age. The percentage of children diagnosed with it has increased from 3% in the 1960s to 10% in the 1990s.15
- Acute urticaria (hives) is common, affecting up to 20 percent of the population at some time in their lives. Half of those affected continue to have symptoms for more than six months.12
- Contact dermatitis and other eczema was diagnosed at over 8.5 million office visits to physicians and at 499,000 hospital outpatient visits.16
- Atopic dermatitis is one of the most common skin diseases, particularly in infants and children. The estimated prevalence in the United States is 9%. The prevalence of atopic dermatitis appears to be increasing.17
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- Approximately 12 million Americans suffer from food allergy, with 6.9 million allergic to seafood and 3.3 million allergic to peanuts or tree nuts. 18
- Eight foods account for 90% of all reactions in the United States.: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, fish and shellfish. 18
- Approximately 2.2 million school-aged children have food allergy. 18
- One in every 17 children under the age of 3 has food allergy. 18
- It is estimated that more than 150 people die annually from anaphylaxis to food.19
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- At least 40 deaths occur annually in the United States from reactions to insect stings.20
- A severe allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis occurs in 0.5 to 5% of the U.S. population as a result of insect stings.21
- Venom immunotherapy prevents systemic reactions in stinging insect-sensitive patients 97% of the time.21
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Latex Allergy
- Estimates of the prevalence of allergy to latex allergens in the general population vary widely, from less than 1% to 6%.22
- Certain individuals, including health care workers who wear latex gloves and children with spina bifida who have had multiple surgical procedures, are at particularly high risk for allergic reactions to latex. Atopic individuals (those with allergies) are at an increased risk of developing latex allergy.15
- Approximately 220 cases of anaphylaxis and three deaths per year are due to latex allergy.23
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- Gergen, P.J., Turkeltaub, P.C., Kaovar, M.G.: The Prevalence of Allergic Skin Reactivity to Eight Common Allergens in the US Population: Results from the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; J. Allergy Clinical Immunol.: 800:669-79, 1987
- "Chronic Conditions; A Challenge for the 21st Century". National Academy on an Aging Society, 2000.
- Arbes SJ et al. "Prevalences of positive skin test responses to 10 common allergens in the US population: Results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey." J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2005; 116:377-383.
- Stempel DA. The health and economic impact of rhinitis. A roundtable discussion. Am J Manag Care. 1997;3:S8-S18.
- Corren J. Allergic rhinitis: treating the adult. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2000; 105:S610-S615.
- CDC. Fast Stats A-Z, Vital and Health Statistics, Series 10, no. 13. 1999. Web: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/allergies.htm
- Fireman, P. "The Most Common Allergy: Allergic Rhinitis." The Allergy Report 1998; Discover Magazine (March 1998) S-13-14.
- Bender BG, Fischer TJ. Differential impacts of allergic rhinitis and allergy medications on childhood learning. Pediatr Asthma Allergy Immunol. 1998;12:1-11.
- Foresi A. A comparison of the clinical efficacy and safety of intranasal fluticasone propionate and antihistamines in the treatment of rhinitis. Allergy. 2000;55:12-14.
- "Parameters for the Diagnosis and Management of Sinusitis." J of Allergy and Clin. Immunology (1998) 102:S107-S144.
- CDC, Vita and Health Statistics, Current Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, 1994 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Center for Health Statistics): DHHS Pub. No. PHS 96-1521, December 1995.
- American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. The Allergy Report. Volume 3: Conditions That May Have an Allergic Component. Milwaukee, Wis: AAAAI, 2000.
- CDC; Vital and Health Statistics, national Hospital Discharge Survey: Annual Summary, 1995 (US DHHS, CDC); DHHS Publication No. PHS 98-1794, 1998.
- Neugut AL, Ghatak AT and Miller RL. "Anaphylaxis in the United States: An investigation into its epidemiology." Archives of Internal Medicine 61 (1): 15-21. 2001.
- Horan, R.F., Schneider, L.C., Sheffer, A.L. "Allergic Disorders and Mastocytosis." Journal of the American Medical Association. (1992) 268:2858-2868.
- United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital and Health Statistics Series 13, No. 143. 1997.
- Boguniewicz M and Leung D. In Allergy, Principles and Practice, 5th Ed., E. Middleton et al, ed. Mosby, St. Louis, p. 1123. 1998.
- The Food Allergy And Anap. "What You Should Know About Living with Food Allergy."
- "Fatalities due to anaphylactic reactions to foods." J of Allergy and Clin. Immunology. (2001) 107:191-193.
- "Stinging Insect Hypersensitivity: A Practice Parameter." J of Allergy and Clin. Immunology (1999) 103:963-980.
- Valentine, M.D. "Anaphylaxis and Stinging Insect Hypersensitivity." Journal of the American Medical Association. (1992) 268:2830-2833.
- Poley GE and Slater JE. "Latex allergy." Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 105 (6): 1054-62. 2000.
- Sussman GL and Beezhold DH. "Allergy to latex rubber." Annals of Internal Medicine 122 (1): 43-6. 1995.
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