Allergic conditions: secondary care data

Since most people with allergic conditions are managed in primary care, secondary care hospital data relate to a smaller group of people, generally with more severe conditions.

Table 1 shows secondary care data from the Scottish Morbidity Record (SMR01) scheme, which records inpatient and day case activity for Scotland. The data are linked for individuals, allowing the analysis of numbers of patients admitted with selected conditions each year. The diagnosis of adverse reaction to drugs will include many cases where the basis of the reaction is not allergic, but no further coding breakdown is available.

Table 1: Number of patients admitted to hospital with selected diagnoses relating to allergic conditions, Scotland, 1998-2004

Diagnosis	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Desensitization	9	3	3	4	2	0	3
Conjunctivitis	7	7	8	8	10	6	10
Toxic effects of venom	48	50	96	26	63	62	49
Angioneurotic oedema	131	149	156	146	159	158	136
Food allergy	300	327	281	284	259	261	311
Urticaria	326	365	311	337	370	275	334
Anaphylaxis	274	289	279	326	335	312	355
Dermatitis	777	649	721	783	871	712	368
Rhinitis	1,803	1,428	1,215	993	1,019	827	923
Asthma	4,136	4,263	3,918	3,178	3,150	2,289	2,175
Adverse reaction to drugs	3,298	3,314	3,453	3,435	3,479	3,433	3,809
Allergy	4,315	4,273	4,889	5,528	8,267	5,896	6,757

Source: linked SMR01 database, ISD (based on ICD10 codes in any diagnosis position).