Latex Allergy in Children on Home Mechanical Ventilation

Study objective: Determining the incidence of latexallergy in children receiving home mechanical ventilation. Background: The prevalence of latex allergy in the generalpopulation ranges from 0.1 to 1.0%. However, in patients with spinabifida and other chronic medical conditions associated with repeatedexposure to latex, the prevalence may be as high as 60%. Childrenreceiving home mechanical ventilation are frequently exposed to latexproducts. Therefore, we hypothesized that these children would be atincreased risk for latex allergy. Design: Fifty-sevenchildren receiving home mechanical ventilation (31 boys, 26 girls; mean[±SD] age, 7.8 ± 6.6 years; range, 0.3 to 23.2 years) wereenrolled. A radioallergosorbent test (RAST) for latex was administeredand serum IgE levels were obtained in all patients. Results: Seventeen patients (29.8%) were found to have apositive RAST for latex. Patients with latex allergy had requiredmechanical ventilation for an average of 6.1 ± 4.1 years vs5.5 ± 5.4 years (p = 0.69; not significant) in those without latexallergy. Eleven of 17 patients (64.7%) had elevated serum IgE levelsin the group with latex allergy vs only 14 of 40 patients (35.0%) inthe group with a negative latex RAST (p = 0.04; odds ratio,3.4). Conclusion: We conclude that there is a highincidence of latex allergy in children requiring home mechanicalventilation. We speculate that screening all children receiving homemechanical ventilation may lead to the identification of patients withpreviously undiagnosed latex allergy and the prevention of untowardreactions from exposure to latex.