Health outcome · disease
Allergy and allergic sensitisation
Also: allergic rhinitis, sensitisation
An immune reaction to normally harmless substances — dust mite, pet, mould and pollen allergens indoors. Sensitisation in early life is influenced by dampness, air pollutants and the microbial environment of the home.
Not reviewed by a clinician. This entry describes a disease or a symptom. We are introducing clinical review for pages of this kind; until that reviewer is in place, this page has been written and checked by the Coridum team but not reviewed by a clinician. It is general information and not medical advice. How this library is built is described in How we build this library.
Why it matters indoors
Allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma and atopic dermatitis share the mechanism: the immune system produces IgE antibodies against an allergen and reacts on every subsequent exposure. Indoor allergens — house dust mites in bedding and carpets, cat and dog dander, cockroach, mould spores — are the ones people meet most, and their levels are controlled by humidity, cleaning and ventilation. Air pollutants such as particles and nitrogen dioxide do not cause allergy directly but increase the likelihood of sensitisation and the severity of symptoms.
Indoor factors with evidence
| Factor | Effect | Population | Study design | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mould | OR 2.2 (1.11–4.40) | social housing residents (adults) · dwelling | cross-sectional study with face-to-face questionnaires of 302 residents of social housing in South West England: self-reported visible mould and mouldy musty odour against current asthma, wheeze and allergy, logistic regression adjusted for a priori covariates | F-0532 Moses et al. Exposure to Indoor Mouldy Odour Increases the Risk of Asthma… (2019) | machine |
Each row is one Finding — a sentence as printed in one study, recorded with its page in the Coridum Knowledge Base. Follow the Finding number for the exact wording and the citation. Checked says who verified the row: machine means every automatic check passed and the surrounding text was read; person means someone read the sentence in the document. Rows are re-checked by a person over time. The studies are curated in the Coridum Knowledge Base; the reading of them together is a Claim, shown separately.
Identifiers
- MeSH
- D006967
In the literature
- Huang Effects of indoor air quality and home environmental characteristics on allergic diseases among preschool children in the Greater Taipei Area (2023). doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165392 CKB 0539
- Allergic rhinitis and asthma in association with fungal pollution of indoor environments… (2023). Journal of Pediatrics & Child Care. doi:10.13188/2380-0534.1000035 CKB 0536
- Allergic rhinitis and asthma in association with fungal pollution of indoor environments… (2023). Journal of Pediatrics & Child Care. doi:10.13188/2380-0534.1000035 CKB 0535
Studies in the Coridum Knowledge Base in which this term is used. The definition follows standard usage in WHO, ISO and textbook sources; it is not quoted from these papers.
CKB = document number in the Coridum Knowledge Base, our curated library of peer-reviewed studies. Follow the DOI for the original paper.
Cite this page
Coridum Research. Allergy and allergic sensitisation. Coridum Knowledge G-0057, 16 September 2026. https://coridum.com/k/G-0057/