Allergy sufferers in Germany massively undersupplied

Many people with allergies do not receive adequate medical care

09/05/2013

Whether pollen, nuts or animal hair: Allergy sufferers often do not have it easy, because many sufferers do not receive adequate medical care. Experts urgently recommend that allergies be treated with sufficient seriousness, as around 20 million people are now suffering from allergic reactions and symptoms such as severe runny nose, itchy rash or shortness of breath.

Meanwhile about 20 million allergic persons
Hay fever, food intolerances, dust mites: More and more people are affected by allergies, in Germany alone there are now about 20 million allergy sufferers. Despite rising numbers, medical care is often inadequate. This is the result of a study by the University of Duisburg-Essen. For example, while the number of people suffering from hay fever and asthma increased by 0.4% and 8.7%, respectively, between 2007 and 2010, there was a marked decline in treatments over the same period.

Current study presented at the 8th German Allergy Congress
According to the Association of German Allergists (AeDA) at the 8th German Allergy Congress in Bochum, the number of hay fever patients and asthmatics has dropped by 13 percent overall. Allergic treatment in asthma was calculated to be about 27 percent less, with hay fever even a decline of 31 percent was recorded. For the study, the health economist Prof. dr. Jürgen Wasem from the University of Duisburg-Essen on behalf of the medical association, the data of 40 million insured persons of the statutory health insurance with respect to the treatment of allergies examined.

„Allergies have become a common disease“
According to Prof. Dr. med. Right here, Eckard Hamelmann runs the risk that allergic diseases will not be taken seriously because „Allergies have become a common disease. Although one person in five is affected by an allergic disease in the course of his or her life, the risk of an allergy is often trivialized - both by the affected persons or their relatives and by the treating physicians.“

Falling readiness among medical professionals for additional training as an allergist
For AeDa Vice-President Ludger Klimek, the results of the study also look deeply, as it shows that "something goes fundamentally wrong - across all specialist groups." The willingness among doctors to sign up for an additional training as an allergist has been in the past ten years Decreased by two-thirds. " According to Klimek, one of the factors responsible for the declining motivation is the fee system - because the physicians would not be remunerated for the treatment of allergies. However, this would have significant consequences, because "what we save here in the short term in the health care system, we have to pay in the long term expensive with a plus in chronic diseases," said Vice President Ludger Klimek on.

Every third child is at risk of becoming ill
The President of the German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology (DGKAI), Harald Renz, also clearly presented his point of view at the congress and called for a fundamental rethinking of allergies. According to Renz, one child in three would now grow up with the risk of becoming ill - yet allergies would continue to be trivialized. In the case of asthma, for example, in every fifth case the treatment would not start, so that the patient can not be helped in this way. Therefore, Renz demands changes in all areas - on the one hand during the study of medicine, but also in equipping the universities.

Displacement and expansion of pollen times exacerbate the problem
But in terms of allergies, the lack of supply is not the only problem. In addition, there is a shift and expansion of pollen flight times, which is caused by the changed climate. Because „when it gets warmer, the flowering times change, "said the Head of Allergology at the University Medical Center Göttingen and member of the executive board of the AeDA, Thomas Fuchs, according to which it can be assumed that pollen will fly from mid-December until October As a result, hayfever sufferers should ideally go directly to an allergist, as simple treatments such as eye cooling or facial washing would usually have no long-term effect.

If hay fever is suspected, it's best to become a specialist
The visit to the specialist in the pollen season between March and October, however, could be very enlightening, because by means of a blood test allergies could be clearly diagnosed. Another way to diagnose is to have a skin test where allergens are applied directly to the skin to test which patient is allergic to it. But such a skin test should be performed on the advice of the expert fox better in pollen-free time, as the skin during the „Allergy season“ already very irritated anyway.

Immediately start therapy after allergy diagnosis
As soon as an allergy is diagnosed, according to Fuchs, treatment should be started immediately, for example with a cortisone spray for the nose and so-called „antihistamines“, Active ingredients that neutralize the effects of the body's histamine. However, according to Fuchs, that would not be enough, because "the acute therapy must be supplemented by an allergen-specific immunotherapy." This consists in the fact that the person takes allergens either by syringe or in tablet form. It is important, however, that this so-called „immunization“ be carried out for three to five years without a break and also in the allergy-free time is started.

Never underestimate allergies
In general, Fuchs also appeals not to underestimate allergies, because a supposedly harmless reaction can quickly become chronic and, in the worst case, even lead to incapacity to work. So would the expert „in 90 percent of sufferers [.] the allergy worse if not treated properly“ In addition, there is an increased risk for allergic persons to be additionally afflicted by a food allergy.

„Great danger in an allergy is the floor change“
Also Dr. Kirsten Jung, President of the AeDA, warns against trivialization, because „the big danger with an allergy is the floor change.“ So would from a seemingly harmless hay fever „one in four patients with allergic asthma during their lifetime“ develop - therefore the supply of allergy sufferers must be taken very seriously: „Precisely because of this, the early treatment against the specific allergen is so important, so that no further missteps of the immune system against other allergens occur and in the end the patient has cross allergies to all sorts of substances“, according to the AeDA chairman. (Ag)