36% of adolescents have allergic diseases...If you have a lot of family, you're 55% lower risk of atopic dermatitis
Jun 03, 2025
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Professor Jeon Yoo-hoon of the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescents at Hallym University's Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital confirmed this in a study titled 「The Effect of Environmental Factors, Health Behaviors, and Psychosocial Effects on Allergic Diseases in Korean Adolescents」. The study aimed to improve the health of adolescents with allergic diseases.
The research team analyzed the data of 1,630 adolescents aged 13 to 18 who participated in the 5th National Health and Nutrition Survey by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three types of allergic diseases were identified: allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, and asthma. The cause of allergic diseases was ▲ environmental factors such as residence, housing type, number of households, and economic level ▲ health behavioral factors such as obesity, vaccination, smoking, drinking, sleep time, and physical activity ▲ The relationship with psychosocial factors such as stress, suicide concerns, depression experiences, mental health counseling experiences, and self-health evaluation.
As a result of the analysis, more than a third of all adolescents (35.8%) had one or more allergic diseases. By disease, allergic rhinitis was the most common with 374 (23%), followed by atopic dermatitis with 183 (11%), and asthma with 159 (10%).
In the analysis of factors for allergic diseases, men had a 39% higher risk of allergic rhinitis than women, but women had a 30% higher risk of atopic dermatitis.
Next, a significant correlation between smoking and asthma was revealed. The rate of smoking by adolescents with asthma was 21%, which was higher than the rate of smoking by adolescents without asthma at 13%.
Sufficient sleep has been shown to help prevent allergic diseases. Among adolescents with allergic diseases, 72 percent of them said they slept less than 7 hours, 64 percent for atopic dermatitis, and 61 percent for asthma. The sleep group with less than 7 hours had a 40% higher risk of allergic rhinitis than the sleep group with more than 7 hours.
Adolescence, when rapid development takes place, is the most sensitive period to various stressors. These stresses have been confirmed to have an adverse effect on allergic diseases. The percentage of people who perceived that they were under a lot of stress in their daily lives was 31% allergic rhinitis, 30% atopic dermatitis, and 29% asthma. The stress perception group had a 48% higher risk of allergic rhinitis compared to the unrecognized group.
In addition, the study supported the hygiene hypothesis, showing that the risk of allergic diseases increases with higher socioeconomic status and decreases with higher number of family members. The group with more than 5 family members had a 55% lower risk of atopic dermatitis than the group with less than 2 family members. The group with high socioeconomic status had a 78% higher risk of allergic rhinitis than the group with low socioeconomic status. Hygiene hypothesis is that as the chance of contacting various bacteria or microorganisms decreases in childhood, the immune system weakens, increasing the risk of allergies or infectious diseases.
Professor Jeon Yoo-hoon explained, "In this study, many Korean adolescents suffer from allergic diseases, and the incidence rate is increased by environmental, health behavior, and psychosocial factors." "Korean adolescents tend to not be able to visit hospitals consistently due to their studies and busy schedules even if they have diseases, so systematic education and management are needed to prevent allergic diseases."
Professor Jeon also said, "Smoking can cause asthma, and if asthma patients smoke, they may develop resistance to treatment and lung function may not improve even after treatment."Education on the dangers of smoking in adolescence is very important."
The findings were published in the latest issue of the SCIE-level international journal 'Medicina'.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
