Background
Insufficient Therapy and Minimisation
Allergic rhinitis is defined by the WHO as a significant chronic illness of the respiratory tract. Yet the importance of allergies is consistently downplayed in public discourse and in the health care system.
According to estimates by the German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology, only 10 percent of affected patients with respiratory tract allergies receive correct therapy. This in turn allows the disorder to progress. As a result, 40 percent of patients with an untreated allergic rhinitis eventually develop allergic asthma, to name just one example.
Yet minimisation is not the only problem. The public also tends to misinterpret the real triggers behind allergies. As a result, inhalation allergens tend to be underestimated, while the importance of food allergies as an allergic trigger is often overestimated.
At many universities, allergology is not accorded much prestige during standard medical training, either in the classroom or in the clinic. This has led to a knowledge gap among both patients and doctors.
Special centres for allergies are urgently needed in both Germany and on the European level to help counteract this.
Socio-economic importance
Insufficient therapy brings with it more than just health ramifications and follow-on costs. It also damages the national economy through allergy-related absences in the workplace and above all through reduced performance capacity in school and in the workplace.
Important figures
- 73 mn working days lost to illness per year in the USA
- 25 bn euro annually in the EU, based on efficiency studies
- 30 percent reduction of performance capacity due to allergic rhinitis
A sample calculation for costs related to allergy can be found below.
The costs are largely avoidable, given timely diagnosis and therapy.
Example calculation for your company
To highlight the impact of allergies on your business, we've created this formula to sum up the economic damages that accrue year after year due to allergies afflicting your employees.
These damages can be avoided through correct therapy.
open calculator spreadsheet (right-klick to save)
If you do not have Excel installed on your system, please download the free Microsoft Excel Viewer 
here.
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