Characteristics of study population
A total of 29926 inhaled allergen sIgE test results were included from 2014 to 2021, including 12484 cases before COVID-19 and 17442 cases during COVID-19. There were 19125 males and 10801 females, with an average age of 4.59±3.103 years (age range: 0-18 years). The number of people in each age and season group is shown in Table 1. The number of examined cases and positive cases of each allergen are shown in Table 1.
Comparison of the number of allergen examined cases and positive rate before and during COVID-19
The most common allergens in Changsha, Hunan province were d1(44.39%,2711/6107), d2(38.5%, 2053/4801s), followed by e2(9.19%, 1976/21510), mx2(7.4%, 21510). 1947/26334), sycamore (6.71%, 916/13747), e1(5.77%, 834/14460). Except for t70 and w14, the number of positive allergens was higher than that before COVID-19. The positive rates of d1, d2, e2, mx2, sycamore, e1, w1, elm and w6 during COVID-19 were significantly higher than those before COVID-19, with a statistical significance (P <0.05) . There was no significant difference in the positive rates of i6, w14, t70 and f37 before and during COVID-19. (Table S1 )
The number of examined cases and positive numbers of allergens during and before COVID-19 in each month are shown in Figure S1. The number of d1,d2,e2,mx2,i6,w1,w6,u80 examined cases and positive cases in the majority of months during COVID-19 was higher than before.Figure 1 shows the positive rates of allergens during and before COVID-19 in each month. Except for i6 and w6, the positive rates of other allergens during COVID-19 were significantly higher than those before COVID in each month. From June to September during COVID-19, the positive rate of w6 was higher than before.