Co-occurrence of allergic sensitization and type 1 diabetes

Figures & data

Table I. Characteristics of the study populations.

	Finland	Russian Karelia
Patients with type 1 diabetes	147	132
Males	79	55
Females	68	77
Age (median/range), years	10.7/4.8–17.5	11.7/2.2–27.3
Duration of T1D (median/range), years	1.5/0.0–4.8	1.7/0.0–18.0
Prevalence of Aabs	84%	74%
GADA	63%	54%
IA-2A	68%	49%	P=0.014^a
Prevalence of insulin antibodies	97%	62%	P < 0.001^a
Frequency of diabetes-related HLA genotypes^b	85%^c	92%^c
DR3-DQ2/DR4-DQ8	17%^c	33%^c	P=0.004
DR3-DQ2/x	12%	18%
DR4-DQ8/y	53%^c	42%^c
Control subjects	266	112
Males	114	47
Females	152	65
Age (median/range), years	11.4/7.2–15.0	11.6./6.0–23.1
Frequency of diabetes-related HLA genotypes^b	38%	37%
DR3-DQ2/DR4-DQ8	2%	2%
DR3-DQ2/x	12%	14%
DR4-DQ8/y	24%	21%
Allergic patients	–	33
Age (median/range), years		10.8/6.8–16.3
Frequency of diabetes-related HLA genotypes^b		39%
DR3-DQ2/DR4-DQ8		3%
DR3-DQ2/x		12%
DR4-DQ8/y		24%

^aAdjusted for the effect of age and duration of diabetes.

^bDR3-DQ2/DR4-DQ8, DR3-DQ2/x or DR4-DQ8/y.

^cComparison of patients with type 1 diabetes and controls: P < 0.001.

T1D = type 1 diabetes; Aabs = autoantibodies (glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies [GADA] and/or islet antigen 2 antibodies [IA-2A]).

Table II. Prevalence of allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) (>0.35 kU/L) against at least one out of three allergens tested (cat, birch, and egg albumen) and high levels (≥100 kU/L) of total IgE in patients with type 1 diabetes and in control subjects in Finland.

	Patients (n= 147)	Control subjects (n=266)	P
At least one	24.5%	21.8%	0.53
Cat	12.2%	11.3%	0.77
Birch	10.2%	11.3%	0.74
Egg albumen	9.5%	6.4%	0.25
Total IgE > 100 kU/L	32.0%	26.3%	0.22

Table III. Prevalence of allergen-specific IgE (>0.35 kU/L) against at least one out of three allergens tested (cat, birch, and egg albumen), reported frequency of allergic symptoms, and high levels (≥100 kU/L) of total IgE in patients with type 1 diabetes and in control subjects in Russian Karelia. Logistic regression model adjustment for the effect of age and gender was applied in the analyses.

	Patients with type 1 diabetes (n= 132)	Control subjects (n= 112)	P	OR (95% CI)
At least one	15.2%	4.5%	0.012	3.47 (1.34–10.44)
Cat	8.3%	1.8%	0.039	5.00 (1.08–23.06)
Birch	5.3%	0.9%	0.09	6.25 (0.75–51.31)
Egg albumen	5.3%	1.8%	NS
Allergic diseases^a	9.8%	0.9%	0.019	11.70 (1.56–94.23)
Total IgE > 100 kU/L	36.8%	42.3%	NS

^aReported allergic symptoms included asthma, allergic eczema and allergic rhinitis.

NS = non-significant.

Figure 1. Prevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV) antibodies in Russian Karelian children with clinical type 1 diabetes or allergic sensitization detected by allergen-specific IgE (P = 0.016).

Table IV. Prevalence of allergen-specific IgE (>0.35 kU/L) against at least one out of three allergens tested (cat, birch, and egg albumen) in patients with type 1 diabetes and in control subjects in Russian Karelia in relation to diabetes-related HLA genotypes.

Genotypes	Patients with diabetes (n= 131)	Control subjects (n= 111)	P
DR3-DQ2/DR4-DQ8	16% (7/43)	0% (0/2)	NS
DR3-DQ2/x	22% (6/23)	0% (0/16)	0.046
DR4-DQ8/y	11% (6/55)	4% (1/23)	NS
z/z	20% (2/10)	6% (4/70)	NS

NS = non significant.