Which infants with eczema are at risk of food allergy? Results from a population‐based cohort

Abstract

Eczema, across the clinical severity spectrum in infancy, is a strong risk factor for IgE-mediated food allergy. Infants with eczema were six times more likely to have egg allergy and 11 times more likely to have peanut allergy by 12 months than infants without eczema. Our data suggest that a heightened awareness of food allergy risk among healthcare practitioners treating infants with eczema, especially if early onset and severe, is warranted.

Persistent Food Allergy and Food Allergy Coexistent with Eczema Is Associated with Reduced Growth in the First 4 Years of Life

“…6 It is well known that food allergy and eczema often occur together. 12 Although the effect of these conditions on growth has been examined separately, there have been no studies to report on the combination. Although the reductions in height and weight that we found at the population level were not large, they correlated well with differences seen in previous studies looking at food allergy only.…”

“…12 Eczema is associated with itching, sleep disturbance, and increased metabolism that have all been suggested to affect growth. [13][14][15] No previous studies of food allergy and growth measures have determined the contribution of eczema to these associations to identify which of these might be the major factor impacting on growth and to see whether eczema and food allergy have an additive impact on growth.…”

Epicutaneous Exposure to Peanut Oil Induces Systemic and Pulmonary Allergic Reaction in Mice

“…Peanut oil has been used as an ingredient in various skin care products for the treatment of AD, including creams, lotions, oils and ointments. In the “Health Nuts” cohort of 4,453 infants, the authors demonstrated that at 12 months of age, infants with AD were 11 times more likely to develop PA compared with healthy infants [27]. Lack et al [9] demonstrated a significant independent relationship between PA and the use of skin preparations containing peanut oil.…”

Developing Primary Intervention Strategies to Prevent Allergic Disease

“…Infants with eczema/atopic dermatitis have an increased risk of other allergies, including food allergy [87], and defects in skin barrier function are now thought to play a significant role in the aetiology of both eczema and food allergy, with allergic sensitisation proposed to occur via transcutaneous, rather than oral exposure to allergens [49•, 88]. A recent RCT on 124 neonates at high risk of atopic dermatitis found that parental application of once daily full-body emollient therapy from within 3 weeks of birth reduced the risk of atopic dermatitis at 6 months of age by 50 % (RR 0.50; 95 % CI, 0.28-0.9) [89].…”