Rozpowszechnienie alergii na lateks wśród studentów Gdańskiego Uniwersytetu Medycznego

One of the groups comprises health care workers, who are at the risk of latex allergy. The allergic reaction caused by latex includes various signs from restricted to skin to systemic and can occur immediately or after a longer time. To diagnose allergy we need interview, which is confirmed by additional tests.AimTo estimate the frequency of latex allergy among the students of the Medical University of Gdansk. Secondly, to correlate it with the frequency of the latex gloves usage and specialty studied.MethodThe questionnaire which contained 15 questions was sent to all students of the Medical University of Gdańsk. We received 1101 answers (response rate = 24.8%) including 13 specializations and all years of studying. The study group contained 240 men (21.8%) and 861 women (78.2%).ResultsThe most affected group of students who have declared latex allergy study the specializations which used latex gloves most often include stomatology, emergency medicine, nursing, analytics, obstetrics (more than 15% of students have latex allergy). Students who underwent hospitalizations more than 5 times in medical history declared latex allergy more often (p = 0.0003). Students who had more than 3 operations did not declare latex allergy more often (p = 0.066). The group of students who used latex gloves every day often had systemic allergic reaction (p = 0.001) including anaphylactic reaction.ConclusionTo reduce latex allergy among students we should replace latex gloves with non-latex. The correct diagnoses of latex allergy include interview and additional tests; however, research was performed using a questionnaire, because of which the results are approximate.