Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of the study subjects.
| All subjects (n = 552) | Subjects with exposure to dogs (n = 506) |
Subjects with exposure to cats (n = 368) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symptomatic groupa (n = 112) | Non-symptomatic group (n = 394) | P-value∗ | Symptomatic groupa (n = 125) | Non-symptomatic group (n = 243) | P-value∗ | ||
| Female | 439 (79.5) | 88 (78.6) | 317 (80.5) | 0.660 | 104 (83.2) | 192 (79.0) | 0.338 |
| Age, years | 30.2 ± 9.2 | 30.5 ± 8.7 | 29.8 ± 9.3 | 0.447 | 29.1 ± 8.1 | 28.5 ± 8.2 | 0.535 |
| Underlying allergic diseases | |||||||
| Allergic rhinitis | 245 (44.4) | 80 (71.4) | 144 (36.5) | < 0.001 | 73 (58.4) | 84 (34.6) | < 0.001 |
| Allergic conjunctivitis | 110 (19.9) | 37 (33.0) | 61 (15.5) | < 0.001 | 39 (31.2) | 42 (17.3) | 0.002 |
| Atopic dermatitis | 73 (13.2) | 23 (20.5) | 43 (10.9) | 0.008 | 24 (19.2) | 25 (10.3) | 0.017 |
| Food allergy | 59 (10.7) | 16 (14.3) | 37 (9.4) | 0.136 | 16 (12.8) | 26 (10.7) | 0.548 |
| Asthma | 42 (7.6) | 19 (17.0) | 18 (4.6) | < 0.001 | 17 (13.6) | 15 (6.2) | 0.017 |
| Chronic urticaria | 39 (7.1) | 11 (9.8) | 23 (5.8) | 0.137 | 10 (8.0) | 19 (7.8) | 0.951 |
| Drug allergy | 29 (5.3) | 11 (9.8) | 14 (3.6) | 0.007 | 9 (7.2) | 13 (5.3) | 0.478 |
| Family history of allergy | 238 (43.1) | 62 (55.4) | 157 (39.8) | 0.003 | 65 (52.0) | 87 (35.8) | 0.003 |
| Pet exposure place | |||||||
| Home | 492 (89.1) | 98 (87.5) | 307 (77.9) | 0.025 | 73 (58.4) | 93 (38.3) | < 0.001 |
| Relatives' or friends' house | 37 (6.7) | 18 (16.1) | 75 (19.0) | 0.475 | 40 (32.0) | 72 (29.6) | 0.640 |
| Workplace | 17 (3.1) | 11 (9.8) | 42 (10.7) | 0.798 | 6 (4.8) | 26 (10.7) | 0.057 |
| Pet shop, Pet café, Pet hospital | 5 (0.9) | 11 (9.8) | 57 (14.5) | 0.203 | 18 (14.4) | 74 (30.5) | 0.001 |
Data are shown as mean ± SD or frequency (%).
∗P-value < 0.05 is shown as boldface in comparing variables between subjects with allergic symptoms on dog exposure and those without it or between subjects with allergic symptoms on cat exposure and those without it.
a
Subjects who experienced symptoms of allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, skin allergy, asthma and cough during exposure to dog or cat.