Abstract / Summary
Introduction: Infants with atopic dermatitis (AD) are more likely to experience food allergies, and AD children experience asymptomatic food sensitivity. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate food allergies in infants with AD with different tests during 17 years.
Method: This retrospective case-series study included 98 infants with AD who underwent clinic prick skin tests from 2005 to 2021. After recording demographic features, all food allergens from forearm skin scratch tests for specific allergens were recorded from medical files. The data were then collected, entered into SPSS v24, and analyzed.
Results: The majority of infants (66.3%) had mild dermatitis, and 9 cases (9.18%) had severe AD. Infants with AD were most allergic to egg (64.3%), cow's milk (49%), nuts (35.7%), soy (20.4%), and wheat (12.2%). We found that egg allergy was significantly higher in girls than boys (74.1% vs. 52.3%, p = 0.025). Moreover, we found that allergy to cow's milk was significantly higher in infants with an age at onset of clinical manifestations lower than 6 months than those with an age at start greater than 6 months (56.06% vs. 34.3%, p = 0.044). Moreover, age at onset of clinical manifestations in severe AD cases was significantly lowest compared to other severity levels (2.78 ± 2.77 months) (p = 0.014).
Conclusion: Infants with AD were most allergic to egg and cow's milk. Medicine, diet, and avoiding food allergies may help infants with AD, especially avoiding eggs and cow's milk in dietary before 6 months.