Clinical profile of pediatric patients diagnosed with food allergy in Northwestern Mexico

Abstract

Background: Food allergy is an adverse reaction secondary to a specific immune response after exposure to a food. Knowing the natural course of food allergies is essential for opportune diagnosis and treatment.

Objective: To know the clinical profile of children diagnosed with food allergy attended to at the pediatric allergology department of a secondary care hospital.

Method: Cross-sectional study of medical records of children with a confirmed diagnosis of food allergy. The type of food allergy, initial clinical presentation, history of familial atopy, time of breastfeeding, ablactation age and positive food allergens per patient, among others, were assessed. Descriptive analysis was performed and association was searched with the chi-square test.

Results: Females were predominant among 95 patients. Milk, soy, wheat and egg were the foods with more allergic responses. Predominant clinical manifestations were gastrointestinal. The time from symptoms’ onset to definitive diagnosis was 3.2 years. Food allergy was associated with an ablactation age ≥ 6 months, milk and soy with respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms, egg with respiratory and dermatological symptoms, and wheat with gastrointestinal symptoms.

Conclusions: Food allergies in our population appeared mainly as gastrointestinal symptoms and there was an association between clinical presentation and allergenic foods.