Role of allergy in nasal polyps of Thai patients

As distinct from many countries, allergy in Thailand is of the perennial ty pe which may play a role in the formation of nasal polyps. Forty consecutiv e patients with nasal polyps and 30 normal subjects as control were studied at the Allergy Clinic, Department of Otolaryngology, Pramongkutklao Hospit al. A positive clinical history and skin allergy testing are diagnostic cri teria for allergy. In the nasal polyps group, these were 28 males and 12 fe males, aged between 12-65 years, with an average age of 38.5 years. In the control group, there were 18 males and 12 females, aged between 15-53 years , with an average age of 34 years. All had received prick skin testing with 6 common aeroallergens. The prick skin test was considered positive when t he wheal was greater than or equal to 3 mm with surrounding erythema. Twent y-four of 40 patients (60%) with nasal polyps had a positive prick skin tes t, while 6 in the 30 control cases (20%) had a positive prick skin test. Th is difference was statistically significant (P = 0.0019), Odd's ratio = 6.0 which means allergic persons were 6 times more prone to have polyps form t han normal persons.