title: Open challenge for the diagnosis of cow's milk protein allergy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report the results of open challenge tests performed in children fed with cow's milk-free diet.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study evaluating cow's milk open challenge performed under supervision in a hospital setting during 2.5 hours and ambulatory follow-up for 30 days when no immediate reaction occurred. One hundred and twenty-one patients were included, with ages between 4 and 95 months. Cow's milk open challenge tests were positive in 28 patients (23.1%). A clinical manifestation of cow's milk allergy different from the one presented at diagnosis occurred in 12 (24.9%) patients with positive challenge. Positive challenge was more frequent (p = 0.042) in patients fed with extensively hydrolyzed formulae or amino acid-based formulae (30.3%) when compared to those fed with other exclusion diets (14.5%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Open challenge allowed the interruption of exclusion diet in a significant proportion of the patients.
authors.affiliation: Disciplina de Gastroenterologia Pediátrica, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernanda Ferreira
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Correa
authors.forename: Mário César
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: Danielle Reis
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Patrícia da Graça Leite
authors.initials: Pda G
authors.lastname: Speridião
authors.forename: Mauro Batista
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: de Morais
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007159:Immunologic Tests / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods*; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008892:Milk / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016269:Milk Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000209:etiology