Frequency of cow milk protein allergy in children during the first 2 years of life in Damietta Governorate

Abstract

Background Many research studies have been done to explore the prevalence of cow milk allergy. Aim of the work The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of cow’s milk protein allergy (CMPA) among children of Damietta Governorate during the first 2 years of life. Patients and methods A cross-sectional study with nonsystemic random sampling was conducted on 1000 children in the first 2 years of age, comprising 512 male and 488 female exposed to cow milk or its products either directly or indirectly, attending outpatient clinics of Al Azhar University Hospital in New Damietta. Each included infant was subjected to history taking and clinical examination, and suspected cases from history and examination were subjected to skin prick test, specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) for cow’s milk protein, oral food challenge, and food elimination tests. Results In the present work, there was a male predominance among the suspected group (58.5% males and 41.5% females). We found that infants from urban regions were more affected than those from rural regions (61.76% of the confirmed cases were from urban areas and 38.24% from rural regions). We found that the risk of CMPA declined in exclusively breast-fed infants. The clinical manifestations in infants with suspected CMPA were variable, and the main presenting feature was gastrointestinal tract manifestations (84% of the cases) (P Conclusion This study showed that the frequancy of CMPA in infants in the first 2 years of life in Demietta Governrate was 3.4%, as confirmed by positive food elimination and oral food challenge tests, and the IgE-mediated CMPA was more common, as 67.6% of cases had IgE-mediated CMPA.