There are more and more children with allergies. Within 20 years, the number of children with one or two positive allergy tests in the Zwolle region (city in the Netherlands) increased by nearly 10 percent. This is based on a research by the Isala Hospital in Zwolle. “We have to stay alert to serious cases of allergies” says pediatrician Paul Brand.

According to him earlier studies already showed that there are more and more children with allergic symptoms. “But this is the first Dutch study that also shows this increase with blood measurements, this biological evidence was a kind of missing link. In order to determine a good approach, it is important that we get a better understanding of the biological functioning.”

Brand studied the blood tests of more than 18,000 children, who were referred to the Isala Hospital for an allergy test over a period of twenty years. “The number of bloodtests tested remained about the same each year, but the part that showed allergic sensitivity increased,” he says.

The increase in the research results is mainly due to an increase in inhalation allergies (also called inhalation allergies), such as dust mite allergy or allergies to pets.

Read the full article on this page. Or a Dutch version on this page.