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.

The table 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. The number of discharges where any one of these conditions is mentioned as a secondary diagnosis is much larger, though this may in part reflect the completeness of clinical coding.

Table: Number of people with at least one acute hospital inpatient/day case discharge during the financial year for selected diagnoses in the principal position; years ending 31st March.

Diagnosis	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Desensitization	2	6	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0
Conjunctivitis	4	7		3	2	6	3	8	3	4	6
Toxic effects of venom	79	42	50	92	24	59	57	50	31	36	37
Angioneurotic oedema	145	113	128	137	141	129	126	137	137	169	186
Food allergy	228	237	291	205	250	221	232	272	216	224	245
Urticaria	241	224	258	228	260	240	186	231	229	224	202
Anaphylaxis	220	240	267	284	299	298	274	354	388	391	434
Dermatitis	378	329	331	242	284	208	176	180	176	143	127
Rhinitis	949	859	639	617	504	362	330	318	294	303	298
Asthma	6244	5857	5952	5121	5155	5093	5110	5632	5105	5866	5212
- predominantly allergic asthma	1468	1338	1336	1081	1052	1089	883	1052	908	996	556
Adverse reaction to drugs	1	1	2	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0
Allergy	93	94	131	153	142	135	170	207	227	283	284

Source: ISD SMR01 [HIG/IR2009-01936]. Based on the number of patients discharged within any given year. Patients may be counted more than once across years. Figures are based on main diagnosis only. Figures for predominantly allergic asthma are included in the total for all asthma. ICD10 codes used in the analysis are listed here.