title: [Prolonged type of food allergy].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Prevalence of food allergy is the most frequent during infancy, and it is gradually decreasing with age. We can not distinguish patients developing tolerance from those with persistent food allergy, therefore we are unable to advice patients accelerating the development of tolerance. To clarify the factors developing tolerance or intolerance, we conducted the following study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients who were diagnosed as food allergy to hen's egg, or cow's milk or wheat in infancy by the definitive history of positive food allergic reactions or food provocation tests were recruited to this study. Patients were divided into two groups; one (prolonged group, n=27) is those who needed to eliminate some of the main offending foods even at the age of 6 years old and the other (tolerized group, n=37) is those who had released all main offending foods by the age of 6 years old.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The factors which distinguished the prolonged group from the tolerized group were the positive clinical history of the atopic dermatitis and its prolonged clinical course, past history of anaphylactic shock, and maximum number of offending foods in the past clinical history. The specific IgE against main antigens such as egg white, cow's milk and wheat in the tolerized group was lower compared to that in the prolonged group, whereas no significant difference was found in non specific IgE value, peripheral eosinophil counts, and specific IgE against other antigens.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We could find the clinical factors discriminating food allergy patients against three major food allergen among children developing tolerance by the age of 6 years old form those without tolerance.
authors.affiliation: National Hospital Organization, Sagamihara National Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Japan. ta-imai@sagamihara-hosp.gr.jp
authors.forename: Takanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: Takatsugu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Komata
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ogata
authors.forename: Morimitsu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomikawa
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tachimoto
authors.forename: Akinori
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shukuya
authors.forename: Motohiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ebisawa
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D007159:Immunologic Tests; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D007073:Immunoglobulin E