Milk-Related Symptoms and Immunoglobulin E Reactivity in Swedish Children from Early Life to Adolescence

Protudjer, Jennifer L. P.; Olén, Ola; Vetander, Mirja; Kull, Inger; Melén, Erik; Van Hage, Marianne; Wickman, Magnus; Bergström, Anna

doi:10.3390/nu10050651

Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Edit a Special Issue

Article Menu

...

Open AccessArticle

Milk-Related Symptoms and Immunoglobulin E Reactivity in Swedish Children from Early Life to Adolescence

Jennifer L. P. Protudjer

^1,2,*,

^3,4,5

^2,4,

^2,4,5,

^2,4,

⁶,

^2,7 and

^1,2

Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Stockholm County Council, 113 65 Stockholm, Sweden

Institute for Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 171 11 Stockholm, Sweden

Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden

⁴

Sachs’ Children and Youth Hospital, The South General Hospital, 118 83 Stockholm, Sweden

⁵

Department of Clinical Science and Education, Sodersjukhuset, Karolinska Institute, 118 83 Stockholm, Sweden

⁶

Department of Medicine Solna, Immunology and Allergy Unit, Karolinska Institutet, and Karolinska University Hospital, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden

⁷

Centre for Clinical Research Sörmland, Uppsala University, 751 85 Eskiltuna, Sweden

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Nutrients 2018, 10(5), 651; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10050651

Received: 5 April 2018 / Revised: 1 May 2018 / Accepted: 1 May 2018 / Published: 21 May 2018

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contributions of Diet and Gastrointestinal Digestion to Food Allergy)

View Full-Text Download PDF

Browse Figures

Citation Export

Abstract

Cow’s milk often causes symptoms in infants. Whereas, some continue to experience symptoms through childhood, others become tolerant. Yet, the ages at which persistence and tolerance occur are less clear. Thus, we examined the age of onset and persistence of milk-related symptoms from early life to adolescence, and Immunoglobulin E (IgE) milk reactivity, focusing on gender differences in a large, population-based birth cohort. Overall, 20.0% (537/2985) of children, with a comparable gender distribution, had early life milk-related symptoms. At 16y, approximately 2% (62/2985) children had persistent symptoms and high milk IgE levels (e.g., median at 4 years: 1.5 kU_A/L) that were beginning in early life. In contrast, 94% had transient symptoms and low median IgE levels (early life: 0.63 kU_A/L, 8y: 0.72 kU_A/L; 16 years: 1.1 kU_A/L). Also, at 16 years, approximately 6% of females and 3% of males without any previously reported symptoms reported adolescent-onset of symptoms (p < 0.001). Such symptoms were almost exclusively gastrointestinal symptoms and were not associated with detectable IgE. In conclusion, early life milk-related symptoms are common, although most cases are transient by 16 years. Twice as many females vs. males report adolescent-onset symptoms, and particularly gastrointestinal symptoms. Children with persistent symptoms have both a higher prevalence and higher milk IgE levels, as compared to other phenotypes. View Full-Text

Keywords: adolescent; allergy; anaphylaxis; child; food hypersensitivity; Immunoglobulin E; milk

▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Protudjer, J.L.P.; Olén, O.; Vetander, M.; Kull, I.; Melén, E.; Van Hage, M.; Wickman, M.; Bergström, A. Milk-Related Symptoms and Immunoglobulin E Reactivity in Swedish Children from Early Life to Adolescence. Nutrients 2018, 10, 651. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10050651

AMA Style

Protudjer JLP, Olén O, Vetander M, Kull I, Melén E, Van Hage M, Wickman M, Bergström A. Milk-Related Symptoms and Immunoglobulin E Reactivity in Swedish Children from Early Life to Adolescence. Nutrients. 2018; 10(5):651. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10050651

Chicago/Turabian Style

Protudjer, Jennifer L.P., Ola Olén, Mirja Vetander, Inger Kull, Erik Melén, Marianne Van Hage, Magnus Wickman, and Anna Bergström. 2018. "Milk-Related Symptoms and Immunoglobulin E Reactivity in Swedish Children from Early Life to Adolescence" Nutrients 10, no. 5: 651. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10050651

Find Other Styles

Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Abstract views Pdf views Html views

Article Menu

Milk-Related Symptoms and Immunoglobulin E Reactivity in Swedish Children from Early Life to Adolescence

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI