Time trends of the prevalence of allergic diseases in Korea: A systematic literature review

Abstract

The prevalence of allergic diseases has increased dramatically in recent decades, and are now considered major chronic diseases at the global level. The increasing burden of allergic diseases has led to numerous worldwide and local researchers to investigate the time trends in its prevalence and identify its driving factors. Environmental changes such as urbanization and industrialization have been suggested to explain the increasing prevalence, but recent reports from Western countries suggest that this prevalence has reached a plateau or even possibly, started to decrease. However, such environmental changes are still occurring in many Asia-Pacific countries, including Korea, and it is speculated that the peak in allergy epidemics has yet to come. The present systematic literature review aimed to explore the time trends in the prevalence of allergic diseases in Korea and to identify the unmet needs for facilitating further studies.

Keywords: Allergic diseases; Epidemiology; Incidence; Korea; Prevalence; Trends.

Fig. 1

Flow chart of study selection

Fig. 2

The percentage of articles published on allergic diseases.

Fig. 3

Trends in the prevalence of allergic diseases by age groups during the study period for asthma (A), allergic rhinitis (B), allergic conjunctivitis (C), and atopic dermatitis (D). Sx, symptoms. Current symptoms defined as prevalence of symptoms of allergic diseases within the last 12 months. Ever diagnosis defined as the lifetime prevalence of any allergic diseases diagnosed by a physician. Data are presented as a scatter plot, with linear trend lines.

Fig. 4

Changes in the prevalence of asthma (A), allergic rhinitis (B), and atopic dermatitis (C) from the National Health Insurance data in Korea 2003–2014. The study population included the entirety of the Korean population. The dashed line with asterisk corresponds to the maximal (Max) prevalence rate, and the thick line with the closed circle indicates the minimal (Min) prevalence rate.

Fig. 5

Trends in the prevalence of allergic diseases by age groups during the study period for food allergy (A) and drug allergy (B). Sx, symptoms. Current symptoms defined as prevalence of symptoms of allergic diseases within the last 12 months. Ever diagnosis defined as lifetime prevalence of any allergic diseases diagnosed by a physician. The results that correspond to the asterisk were from a population-based study in the age group of 1 to 94 years. Data are presented as a scatter plot, with linear trend lines.