Epidemiology and Risk Factor Analysis of Systemic Allergic Reaction to Bee Venom in the Slovenian Population of Beekeepers

Figure 1.

The characteristics of the study population according to the categories of selected potential risk factors (N=1,080)_

Category	Variable	Total Ncat (%)
Demography	Age
	18-39	123 (11.4)
	40-64	507 (46.9)
	≥65	450 (41.7)
	Sex
	Female	163 (15.1)
	Male	917 (84.9)
	Education
	Lower	651 (60.3)
	Upper	429 (39.7)
	BMI
	18.5-24.9	295 (27.3)
	25-29.9	547 (50.7)
	≥30	238 (22.0)
Environmental exposure	Smoking status
	Yes	365 (33.8)
	No	715 (66.2)
	Beekeeping status
	Hobby	1058 (98.0)
	Professional	22 (2.0)
	Type of beekeeping
	Stationary	894 (82.8)
	Other	186 (17.2)
	Beekeeping duration (yr)
	≤10	356 (33.0)
	>11	724 (67.0)
	No. of active working days in a week
	1-2	843 (78.1)
	≥3	237 (21.9)
	Use of protective equipment
	Some elements	629 (58.2)
	Complete outfit	252 (23.3)
	None	199 (18.5)
	Beekeeping among
	FDRa and FMb
	Bee contact	825 (76.4)
	No bee contact	255 (23.6)
Host predisposition to SAR	Symptoms when working at hives
	Nasal	17 (1.6)
	Other	9 (0.8)
	None	1054 (97.6)
	Personal history of LLR
	Yes	175 (16.2)
	No	905 (83.8)
	Personal history of atopic disease
	Yes	126 (11.7)
	No	954 (88.3)
	Personal history of other allergic diseases
	Yes	89 (8.2)
	No	991 (91.8)
	History of AR to bee venom among FDRa
	Yes	174 (16.1)
	No	906 (83.9)
	History of atopic disease among FDRa
	Yes	91 (8.4)
	No	989 (91.6)
	History of other allergic diseases among FDRa
	Yes	32 (3.0)
	No	1048 (97.0)

The estimated lifetime prevalence of self-reported first systemic allergic reaction to bee venom in 1,080 beekeepers and graded for severity according to Mueller_

Grade	Ncat (%)	95% CI
SAR I	27 (26.5)	24.5-28.5
SAR II	29 (28.4)	28.4-28.4
SAR III	26 (25.5)	23.5-27.5
SAR IV	20 (19.6)	17.4-21.4
TOTAL	102 (100.0)

Multiple logistic regression analysis of the overall lifetime prevalence of self-reported first systemic allergic reaction to bee venom associated with risk factors among the Slovenian population of beekeepers (N=1,080)_

Risk factor	Variable	OR	95% CI		p-value
			lower	upper
Estimated number of bee stings per season	>51	1
	≤50	5.274	3.250	8.559	<0.001
Demography	Agea
	≥65	1
	18-39	1.477	1.160	1.881	<0.002
	40-64	1.270	1.055	1.527	<0.011
	Sexa
	Female	1
	Male	1.712	1.007	2.911	0.047
Environmental exposure	Beekeeping duration (yr)
	>11	1
	≤10	1.235	0.759	2.010	0.395
Host predisposition to SAR	Symptoms when working at hives
	None	1
	Nasal	9.693	2.469	38.045	0.001
	Personal history of LLR
	No	1
	Yes	20.654	4.747	89.877	<0.001
	Personal history of atopic disease
	No	1
	Physician-confirmed asthma	1.288	0.707	2.346	0.408
	Personal history of other allergic diseases
	No	1
	Yes	1.664	0.841	3.291	0.143