title: Sensitization to food allergens in Iranian children with mild to moderate persistent asthma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease in childhood. The clinical presentation of asthma may worsen after food allergen ingestion in sensitized patients. To avoid nonspecific dietary restrictions in children with asthma, laboratory-based advice about foods is potentially helpful. The purpose of this study was to determine food sensitization in children with asthma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-nine children with mild to moderate persistent asthma were included in this study. Commercial food allergens including cow's milk, egg white, almond, potato, and soybean were used in skin prick tests. Specific IgE to 20 common food allergens was also measured in serum.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twelve (15.2%) of the patients had a positive skin prick test to at least one of the five food extracts. Sensitization was detected by skin prick tests to cow's milk and egg white (each 6.3%), almond (3.8%), potato (2.5%) and soybean (1.3%). Specific IgE levels ≥0.35 kAU/L were detected in the serum of 47% of the children with asthma. The most common food allergens were cow's milk (26.6%), hazelnuts (25.3%), wheat flour (15.2%) and egg white (12.6%). Patients with a history of at least one hospital admission due to asthma attack had a higher rate of sensitization to egg.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our study, food sensitization was frequent in Iranian children with asthma. Although clinical food allergy could not be evaluated because food challenge tests were not used in our study, skin prick tests and serum-specific IgE to common food allergens might be helpful in identifying children with food sensitization.
authors.affiliation: Allergy Research Center, University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Shirin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Farjadian
authors.forename: Mozhgan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moghtaderi
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kashef
authors.forename: Soheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alyasin
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D007223:Infant; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D012882:Skin Tests
chemical_list: D007073:Immunoglobulin E