PMID- 24744258
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20151013
LR  - 20220317
IS  - 1863-4362 (Electronic)
IS  - 0021-1265 (Linking)
VI  - 184
IP  - 2
DP  - 2015 Jun
TI  - Allergy in Irish adults: a survey of referrals and outcomes at a major centre.
PG  - 349-52
LID - 10.1007/s11845-014-1117-0 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: There is an increasing demand for specialist public allergy services 
      across Ireland. Little data exist on the patterns of allergic disease in Irish 
      adults. The limited resources available require innovative strategies to ensure 
      quality care delivery. AIMS: This study aimed to review the types of allergy 
      referrals and diagnostic outcomes at a major Irish centre, and to establish an 
      efficient method of communication with non-specialist practitioners. METHODS: 
      Demographic data, referral characteristics and diagnostic outcomes from one 
      hundred consecutive new allergy referrals were identified. Additionally, 
      communications to a pilot email service were reviewed over a 12-month period and 
      user satisfaction assessed. RESULTS: Requests for the investigation of food 
      allergy accounted for 71% of referrals. Despite this, the main diagnostic outcome 
      in this cohort was a non-allergic condition, chronic spontaneous urticaria (56%). 
      immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated food allergy was definitively diagnosed in only 
      9% of patients, with the majority of these presenting with anaphylaxis. The 
      allergy advice email service received 43 requests for assistance over 12 months, 
      mainly for help in the interpretation of an allergy clinical history. Feedback on 
      the email service was universally positive. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of patients 
      in this cohort did not have IgE-mediated allergic disease. Increased awareness of 
      the features that differentiate allergy from non-allergic conditions such as food 
      intolerance or chronic spontaneous urticaria is required. The allergy advice 
      email service should be developed further to play a key role in education and 
      care delivery in partnership primary care.
FAU - Conlon, N P
AU  - Conlon NP
AD  - Central Pathology Laboratory, Department of Immunology, St. James's Hospital, 
      James Street, Dublin 8, Ireland, conlonn1@tcd.ie.
FAU - Abramovitch, A
AU  - Abramovitch A
FAU - Murray, G
AU  - Murray G
FAU - O'Hanrahan, A
AU  - O'Hanrahan A
FAU - Wallace, D
AU  - Wallace D
FAU - Holohan, K
AU  - Holohan K
FAU - Cleary, N
AU  - Cleary N
FAU - Feighery, C
AU  - Feighery C
FAU - Lee-Brennan, C
AU  - Lee-Brennan C
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20140418
PL  - Ireland
TA  - Ir J Med Sci
JT  - Irish journal of medical science
JID - 7806864
RN  - 37341-29-0 (Immunoglobulin E)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Chronic Disease
MH  - Data Collection
MH  - Female
MH  - Food Hypersensitivity/*epidemiology
MH  - Humans
MH  - Hypersensitivity/*epidemiology
MH  - Immunoglobulin E/immunology
MH  - Ireland/epidemiology
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Pilot Projects
MH  - Primary Health Care
MH  - Referral and Consultation/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - Urticaria/epidemiology
MH  - Young Adult
EDAT- 2014/04/20 06:00
MHDA- 2015/10/16 06:00
CRDT- 2014/04/19 06:00
PHST- 2014/01/06 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2014/03/31 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2014/04/19 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2014/04/20 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2015/10/16 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1007/s11845-014-1117-0 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Ir J Med Sci. 2015 Jun;184(2):349-52. doi: 10.1007/s11845-014-1117-0. Epub 2014 
      Apr 18.