RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Natural History of Food Sensitization in Children With Atopic Dermatitis and the Prognostic Role of Specific Serum IgE
Arianna Giannetti1, Giampaolo Ricci1, *, Arianna Dondi1, 2, Valentina Piccinno1, Federica Bellini1, Roberto Rondelli1, Annalisa Patrizi2, Andrea Pession1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 7
First Page: 22
Last Page: 28
Publisher ID: TODJ-7-22
DOI: 10.2174/1874372220130610001
Article History:
Received Date: 14/03/2013Revision Received Date: 30/05/2013
Acceptance Date: 4/06/2013
Electronic publication date: 28/8/2013
Collection year: 2013
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
The natural history and the prognostic factors for food tolerance in childhood atopic dermatitis(AD) are poorly understood.
Objective:
We aimed at investigating the natural course of egg and milk allergy in children affected by AD and food allergy and identifying if the persistence of allergy is associated with high specific serum IgE(sIgE).
Methods:
The retrospective study included 58 patients affected by AD, aged 9-16 months, with a first clinical examination between 1993 and 2002.
Results:
Patients with AD and allergy to hen’s egg(N=58) or cow’s milk(N=44) were studied. In most patients milk and egg tolerance was reached before school age, but it was achieved later in children with severe AD and high egg sIgE.
Conclusions:
The food tolerance is normally reached before school age and, at the time of diagnosis, levels of sIgE>5kU/L for hen’s egg are risk factors for a later tolerance achievement.