Allergies

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of (a) males and (b) females in each age group who have (i) food and (ii) inhalant allergies; and if he will make a statement. (263287)

The Department does not collect these data.

Food and inhalant allergies may present in a variety of forms, including allergic rhinitis, asthma and inflammation of the skin and subcutaneous tissue. The Department’s “A review of services for allergy”, published in July 2006 (a copy of which has been placed in the Library), provided data on annual prevalence of general practice consultation rates for these conditions. This information is provided in the following tables.

*Annual prevalence (of consultation) rates per 10,000*
		Age standardised (95 per cent. CI)	All ages	<1	1-4	5-14	15-24	25-44	45-64	65-74	75+
Allergic rhinitis (477)	M	152 (147-158)	152	5	112	308	241	143	86	84	77
	F	171 (165-177)	173	0	73	224	305	214	121	89	70
Source: RCGP Weekly Returns Service.

*Annual prevalence (of consultation) rates per 10,000*
		Age standardised (95 per cent. CI)	All ages	<1	1-4	5-14	15-24	25-44	45-64	65-74	75+
Skin and subcutaneous tissue other inflamcond (690-698)	M	564 (552-575)	554	2280	1525	558	360	381	497	723	823
	F	750 (737-763)	746	2201	1592	691	743	637	668	745	821
Source: RCGP Weekly Returns Service.

*Annual prevalence (of consultation) per 10,000* *by age and gender*
		Age standardised (95 per cent. CI)	All ages	<1	1-4	5-14	15-24	25-44	45-64	65-74	75+
Asthma (493)	M	412 (403-422)	409	41	440	690	441	353	323	429	396
	F	482 (472-493)	484	16	282	501	609	472	488	546	411
Source: RCGP Weekly Returns Service.

Volume 489: debated on Tuesday 17 March 2009