Charts from 908 patients born in New England and seen at the Lahey Clinic because of allergic rhinitis or asthma or both were reviewed to ascertain whether or not a relationship existed between month of birth and subsequent development of allergy to house dust mites. Prick/puncture and intradermal skin tests for aeroallergens were performed on all patients. Skin tests for Dermatophagoides farinae (Df) mite were scored very positive (VP) in 451 patients (49.7%), mildly positive (MP) in 234 patients (25.7%), and negative (NEG) in 223 patients (24.6%). No discernible difference in frequency of birth could be identified for any single month for either Df-sensitive or Df-negative patients. Comparisons of 4-month periods (May through August, September through December, and January through April) failed to show a seasonal predilection for month of birth. During the 6-month period of February through July, a slight difference was observed for the overall group of 908 patients: 240 of the VP patients (53.2%), 111 of the MP patients (47.4%), and 105 of the NEG patients (47.1%) were born within this period compared with 211 VP patients (46.8%), 123 MP patients (52.6%), and 118 NEG patients (52.9%) who were born within the period of August through January. The difference among the groups was not statistically different (P = 0.20). Of the 225 children and adolescents who were either VP or MP, 125 patients (55.6%) were born within the period of February through July; of the 83 children and adolescents who were NEG, 37 patients (44.6%) were born within that same period. Although dust-mite allergic patients and, in particular, children and adolescents with asthma or rhinitis or both tended to be born within the period of February through July, no clear-cut statistically significant predilection in month of birth or season could be identified for New England-born adult or pediatric mite-allergic patients with rhinitis or asthma or both.
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