Background: Cupressaceae pollen allergy is a worldwide winter pollinosis. Exposure to cypress pollen has increased enormously during recent decades, and cypress pollen allergy has become a major health problem, especially in Mediterranean countries.
Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of cypress pollen sensitization and allergy in the Montpellier area and the symptoms presented by sensitized patients.
Methods: We included all 6185 consecutive patients who were referred to our center for any allergic disorder during a 36-month period. For each patient, we evaluated skin prick test results, allergy symptoms, pulmonary function test results, and the need for allergen immunotherapy.
Results: We found that 20.7% of patients were sensitized to cypress pollen and 46.4% presented symptoms during the pollen season. The main symptoms were rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma. Oral allergy syndrome to peach was detected in 4% of sensitized and symptomatic patients. Allergen immunotherapy was necessary to control symptoms in 57.9% of cases.
Conclusions: Cypress pollen allergy is one of the leading causes of respiratory allergy in the Montpellier area. Symptoms are often severe and include pollen-induced asthma. Moreover,many patients need allergen immunotherapy in order to achieve better control of their symptoms.