title: Prevalence of allergic symptoms among children with diabetes mellitus type 1 of different socioeconomic status.
abstract: The aim of the study was to assess the possible associations between allergies and type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1), stratified by social class. We studied 127 children with DM1 with a median age of 10.8 yr and 150 controls of comparable age and sex distribution. The parents completed questionnaires on their education and occupation and on their children's history of allergic symptoms, breast-feeding, viral infections, and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination. Lower family's social class was more frequently encountered among the DM1 families than in the controls (OR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.35-0.92). The occurrence of any allergic symptoms among children with DM1 (35.45%) was not significantly different from the controls (38.78%), neither in the total group (OR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.52-1.45) nor in the stratified analysis by social class. Similar findings were observed regarding the different types of allergic symptoms. In the univariate analysis, breast-feeding, the experience of viral infections, and MMR vaccination were found to be protective of DM1 presentation in both upper and lower social classes. In the multiple logistic regression analysis, the experience of more than 2 infections/yr (OR = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.04-0.34), the origin from middle and upper social classes (OR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.22-0.80) and breast-feeding (OR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.31-1.07) were protective of DM1 occurrence. In children with DM1, the presence of allergic symptoms was not associated with the development of DM1. Among the environmental factors, the origin from middle or upper social classes, breast-feeding, the experience of viral infections, and MMR vaccination were found to have a protective effect on DM1 presentation.
authors.affiliation: Diabetic Clinic, B' Pediatric Department, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. kakarav2@yahoo.gr
authors.forename: Kyriaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karavanaki
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tsoka
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Karayianni
authors.forename: Vassilis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Petrou
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pippidou
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brisimitzi
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mavrikiou
authors.forename: Kostas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kakleas
authors.forename: Ilias
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Konstantopoulos
authors.forename: Manolis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manoussakis
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dacou-Voutetakis
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding; D002648:Child; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007239:Infections; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014611:Vaccination