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  Newsmakers   Food allergy leads to asthma in kids

Food allergy leads to asthma in kids

PTI
Published : Aug 27, 2016, 1:27 am IST
Updated : Aug 27, 2016, 1:27 am IST

Children with a history of food allergy have a high risk of developing asthma and allergic rhinitis, a new US study has warned.

Children with a history of food allergy have a high risk of developing asthma and allergic rhinitis, a new US study has warned.

The risk increases with the number of food allergies a child might have, said researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

“Eczema, asthma and allergic rhinitis are among the most common childhood medical conditions in the US,” said lead researcher David A. Hill, an allergy and immunology fellow.

The study is a retrospective analysis of the electronic health records of more than one million urban and suburban children in the CHOP Care Network from 2001 to 2015.

The researchers divided the records into two cohorts: a closed-birth cohort of 29,662 children, followed continuously for their first five years of life, and a cross-sectional cohort of 333,200 children and adolescents, followed for at least 12 months.

The patients were 48 per cent white and 40 per cent black.

While prior studies have suggested patients with food allergies are at increased risk of developing asthma, those analyses were small and limited.

Allergies to peanut, milk, shellfish and soy were proportionately higher in the study population, while wheat allergy was proportionately rarer, and sesame allergy was higher than previously appreciated, researchers said.

Overall, children with existing food allergy were at increased risk of developing asthma and allergic rhinitis.

“Of the major food allergens, allergy to peanut, milk and egg significantly predisposed children to asthma and allergic rhinitis,” added Hill.

Location: United States, Washington