Adverse reactions to food in children; prevalence, clinical manifestations and risk factors, a population-based study

Abstract

Background: Adverse reactions to food are common events which generally occur in early childhood and usually result in stress and anxiety not only in the child, but also in babies’ parents or caregivers especially because occasionally it leads to life-threatening reactions such as anaphylaxis.

Materials& Methods: A cross-sectional population-based study has performed in south of Tehran, capital of Iran in 450 less than seven years old children to determine the prevalence, clinical manifestations and risk factors of Food allergy by interviewing the mothers based on a structured questionnaire. The children attended in 5 health centers to perform health care, growth and development monitoring or vaccination have selected conveniently.

Findings: The prevalence of FA was 20% (88 cases) which included 49(56%) females and 39(%) males. The age range of the most involved children was 24-72 months. The most frequent food causing FA included egg cow milk (14 cases, 16%), and tree nuts(8 cases, 9%). Dermatologic symptoms were the most frequent adverse reactions to foods (48 cases, 54%). 

Conclusion: Though most of the findings of this study are in favor of other reports, performing large scale prospective cohort studies is highly recommended in order to obtain reliable results and confirm the findings.