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Title: High prevalence of aeroallergen sensitization among infants of atopic parents.

Authors: LeMasters, Grace K; Wilson, Kimberly; Levin, Linda; Biagini, Jocelyn; Ryan, Patrick; Lockey, James E; Stanforth, Sherry; Maier, Stephanie; Yang, Jun; Burkle, Jeff; Villareal, Manuel; Khurana Hershey, Gurjit K; Bernstein, David I

Published In J Pediatr, (2006 Oct)

Abstract: To present methodology to identify atopic parents and determine the prevalence of sensitization to 15 aeroallergens in their infant offspring.A birth cohort of infants was identified from birth records; an infant was enrolled if 1 of the parents reported allergy respiratory symptoms and had a positive skin prick test (SPT) to a common aeroallergen. At age 1 year, these infants were tested to the same aeroallergens.Of the 680 enrolled infants, 28.4% were SPT+ to 1 or more aeroallergens and/or food, and 18.0% were positive to 1 or more aeroallergens. By category of allergens, 9.7% were sensitized to pollens, 7.5% to molds, 4.3% to house dust mite and/or cockroach, and 3.4% to dog and/or cat. Of the infants who were positive to an aeroallergen, 65.7% remained positive at age 2 years.Infants born to atopic parents with percutaneous sensitization to aeroallergens are at increased risk for aeroallergen sensitization during infancy, which persists to age 2 years. These findings suggest that current clinical practices, which generally avoid skin testing before age 2 years, be reassessed in this population of high-risk children.

PubMed ID: 17011322 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Allergens/adverse effects; Family Health*; Female; Humans; Hypersensitivity, Immediate/epidemiology*; Infant; Male; Parents; Prevalence; Respiratory Hypersensitivity/epidemiology*; Respiratory Hypersensitivity/immunology; Skin Tests; Surveys and Questionnaires

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