“When I started as a doctor, 5 or 10% of the population was allergic,” recalls Dr. Juan José Zapata, president of the Clinical Aerobiology Committee of the Spanish Society of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (SEAIC). Now, the data is very different. The perception that the population has that there are more and more people with allergies is not a coincidence. The prevalence has risen and so is the intensity.
It is estimated that between 25 and 30% of the global population is allergic and the World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that in a few decades this will reach 50%. “The WHO says that it is a non-infectious epidemic,” recalls the doctor. In Spain alone, adds Dr. Daniela Silva, Specialist in Internal Medicine and E-Health Medical Manager of Cigna Healthcare Spain, statistics show that 14 million people suffer from some type of allergy.
And if hearing more and more sneezes on the bus is no coincidence, neither is this growth in incidence. When asked why this increase has occurred, Zapata speaks of “changes in lifestyles.” The immune system no longer faces the same elements as before, but it also lives in a different context. Pollution is “a disruptive factor.”
Added to this is that the pollutants—of which not all has been studied yet, the expert recalls—are also inside the home. In one bathroom alone there are already about 30 or 40 bottles of various products, he points out, that have chemicals.
Climate emergency and allergies
In addition, the climate emergency impacts. This is also what leads “in large part”, as Silva explains, to the fact that allergies “are becoming more severe and last longer on the calendar than usual.” Climate change creates a combination of impacts that, as the doctor points out, “can have several effects on the allergy season.”
On the one hand, it can lead to it being longer. “We cause the temperature and CO2 to increase,” says Zapata, which in turn brings forward spring, increases pollen contamination and makes plants more active. We are “cornering winter,” he points out, which has consequences. The overlap of seasons and the greater exposure to allergens generated by these temperatures cause “a greater intensity and duration of allergic symptoms,” as Silva explains.
On the other hand, the climate emergency impacts the plant context. “Changes in the climate can favor the proliferation of pollen-producing plants and other allergens, as well as increase the concentration of pollen in the air,” adds the expert.
Economic effects
That the allergy season is longer and more intense is not only a nuisance for the allergic population, who loses quality of life, but it has consequences that go beyond that. “It can have indirect effects on other areas, such as mental health, work productivity and quality of life in general,” explains Silva.
In the end, as with so many other health issues, it has the potential to become an even more important public health problem in the not-so-distant future, with a high resulting cost. “This is a very important point,” concedes the expert. «It may be difficult for us to imagine how the worsening of seasonal allergies will have an economic impact; However, we have data that corroborates this hypothesis,” she indicates.
fifty%
The WHO estimates that half of the world's population will be allergic within decades.
Statistics already show that in the midst of allergy symptoms there is both 'presenteeism' – going to work because 'you have to be there', but not being able to do much once there – and absenteeism. “This, added to the medical expense involved in the treatment of allergies in the general population, results in a very significant economic impact at many levels,” he summarizes.
Facing this reality is, therefore, crucial. Zapata points out that the most important thing is that action be taken at the state level, with more resources and more research on these issues or a reorganization of what we already have. It must be something vertical, in which all the actors in the system are involved. “If everyone becomes aware, we could improve the quality of life of patients,” he says.
More healthcare personnel trained in these areas is key, but also fewer funnels. Right now patients continue to have difficulty reaching specialists. There would even be more training in these areas in the medical profession. After all, these are “emerging” diseases, with which we will increasingly encounter.
Because, although much progress has been made with allergies—Zapata lists treatments and vaccines as effective tools—the truth is that awareness is still lacking, the doctor points out. “The problem is that they seem banal,” he points out, when they are not. Taking an antihistamine and thinking that it will be three days of discomfort is not the best way to go. “The most important thing is to have an accurate diagnosis,” he says.
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