SERUM TOTAL IGE LEVELS IN A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF A GREEK POPULATION .1. CORRELATION WITH AGE, SEX, AND SKIN REACTIVITY TO COMMON AEROALLERGENS

The distribution of IgE in a large randomly stratified Greek populatio n sample was determined in 1187 subjects (793 men and 394 women) aged between 20 and 60 years. Skin prick testing was performed and serum to tal IgE expressed in iu/ml was measured by Phadebas PRIST: the data ar e presented as the geometric mean. Subjects were classified as atopic (257 men, 118 women) and nonatopic (536 men, 276 women) according to t he results of skin testing with various aeroallergens. At any age, ato pic males (120.5 vs 38 iu/ml) and females (99.8 vs 29.3 iu/ml) had hig her mean IgE levels, as compared to nonatopic subjects (P<0.0001). In our adult nonatopic sample, IgE levels did not differ with age (P>0.05 ). At any age, nonatopic males had higher (38 iu/ml) mean IgE levels t han nonatopic females (29.3 iu/ml) (P<0.05). The comparison of normal IgE values (nonatopic subjects) from this study with those reported by other investigators revealed that Greek adult males and females had h igher IgE levels than populations from other nations. Our results repr esent the first report on reference values regarding serum total IgE i n Greek adults.