In a skin allergy test, the so-called skin prick test, allergen solutions are applied to the skin with a superficial scratch. If the person being tested reacts to one or more of the allergens, this is called sensitisation. It is only an allergy if the sensitisation is accompanied by symptoms such as rhinitis or itchy and swollen eyes. “Not everyone who is sensitised has an allergy, but sensitisation can develop into an allergy in the course of life,” warns Assoc. Prof. Breyer-Kohansal, scientific director of the LEAD study.

Now the LEAD study provides for the first time exact figures on allergies in Austria: Almost 1500 children and adolescents and 10,000 adults were examined. 37 percent had a positive skin prick test, men more often than women. Most of them do not only react to one allergen, on average they react to three different allergens, the most common of which are mites and grasses.