Introduction: Evaluating patients with allergic disease and many other conditions, may be necessary to quantitate the levels of immunoglobulins like IgE. A number of factors, including age, gender and atopic status have been reported to influence levels of serum IgE. In many instances, normal ranges are supplied by the manufacturer of equipment or the reagents used in quantitation and may not reflect the normal values of the local population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the total serum IgE in some resident of Tehran Province.

Methods: Using a commercial enzyme immunoassay (EIA-gen Biochem IgE kit) the mean serum level of IgE was determined in 267(72 males, 195 females) non allergic, non-smoker, appearently healthy and 1002 residents of Tehran province with rhinitis, contact determatitis, urticaria, eczema, parastic infections, hepatitis, mental retardation, renal disorders or smokers aged 2 to 65 years.

Results: Mean serum IgE value in healthy controls and patients was 111.8(SE=14.2) and 127.9 IU/ml (SE=9.1), respectively, and there was significant differences in mean of IgE between healthy females and males(p<0.01). There was not any significancys in mean of IgE between healthy and patients group. History of allergic disease and smoking didn’t show any significant positive association with serum levels of IgE.   No significant effect of sex was found on the IgE values at different ages.

Conclusion: The values for some Tehran population were higher than those reported from Canada and Isreal, but lower than those reported from Oman.

  Hakim Research Journal 2005 8(2) 25-30.