Objective: Introduction: According to the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI, 2016), allergy is the most common chronic disease in Europe. The aim: The aim of the investigation is to study the spread of risk factors of allergic reactions in children who are 8-9 years old of Poltava region.
Patients and methods: Materials and methods: The investigation included two stages: the 1st contained interviewing; the 2nd one - additional clinical and lab investigation of children, who require the further diagnosis specification.
Results: Results: 1068 children who are 8-9 years old were interviewed based on questionnaires: 56,2% males and 43,8% females. Children were divided into residents (49,2%), and villagers (50,8%). In order to identify allergic diseases the division in family was the next: the presence of bronchial asthma was present in 38 people (3,6%), allergic rhinitis or allergic conjunctivitis - 128 people (12,0%), atopic dermatitis - 54 people (5,1%), food allergy - 129 people (12,1%), medicinal allergy - 25 people (11,7%). Analyzing the influence of trigger factors, it should be noted that in the risk group there are children who received cow's milk as substitutes for breast milk (38.1%), children who had a history of helminthal invasion (19.6%), children where parents smoke (45.9%), one third of parents (31.9%) complained of frequent respiratory viral infections in their children.
Conclusion: Conclusions: Presented epidemiological investigation allowed studying the prevalence of diagnosed allergic diseases in children of Poltava region and determining children's category who require additional diagnostics of chronic allergic diseases.
Keywords: allergic diseases; asthma; risk factors; children.