Skin test predicts cow milk allergy persistence
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among infants and children with cow’s milk allergy, skin prick test results can predict which of them are likely to have persistent problems rather than spontaneous resolution, according to a report in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
Allergic symptoms induced by cow’s milk disappear before the first birthday in about half the infants who develop them, the authors explain, but the natural history of tolerance remains unclear.
Dr. Alessandro Fiocchi from the University of Milan Medical School, and colleagues determined the prognostic predictors of tolerance in 112 children enrolled in the Milan Cow’s Milk Allergy Cohort study.
Just over half the children (52.7 percent) eventually achieved tolerance, the authors report, and the average duration of disease was 23 months from the diagnosis among the children who became tolerant.
In the first part of their analysis, Fiocchi’s group found that only asthma and nasal congestion were significantly associated with the persistence of cow’s milk allergy.
