Prevalência de alergia alimentar em lactentes das escolas municipais de educação infantil de Uberlândia, MG

Abstract

Food allergy is the term used to designate the group of adverse reactions to foods, which involves immunological mechanisms and is reproducibly when exposed to a given food. Although several studies suggest the significant increase of food allergy cases in the world in recent decades, the actual prevalence remains unknown and is estimated to affect 6-8% of children. The most prevalent food associated with food allergy is cow\'s milk, affecting 2-3% of children. Food allergy reported by parents is present in about 1.4 to 35% of the population. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of food allergy reported by parents and diagnosed by health professionals, as well as major food and clinical manifestations in infants enrolled at the School District Early Childhood Education from Uberlândia, MG. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in children 4-23 months who were enrolled at the School District Early Childhood Education Uberlândia by using a self-administered questionnaire to assess the prevalence of food allergy reported by parents and subsequent clinical and laboratory evaluation of infants identified by parents as allergic food in order to meet the prevalence of food allergy diagnosed. Results: Out of 1244 children enrolled, 596 parents responded to the questionnaire. The prevalence of food allergy reported by parents was 23.5% and the incidence of asthma, rhinitis and dermatitis was significantly higher in the group of children with food allergies reported (p = 0.0317, p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0001, respectively). The main foods mentioned were: cow\'s milk, egg, chocolate, pork and fruits. And the main associated symptoms: red spots (55.7 %), diarrhea (43.6 %), vomiting (30.7%), abdominal pain (21.4%) and mouth and eyes swelling. Infants with suspected food alergy reported by parents underwent clinical and laboratory evaluation. The food allergy prevalence was 3.5%, 1.9% of these were confirmed during the study and 1.6% previously. IgE-mediated events occurred in 1.2% of infants while non-IgE mediated events were detected in 0.7% of them. The milk was the major food allergen reaching 1.04% of infants, followed by egg (0.87%), wheat (0.34%), soy, coconut, peanut and tomato (0.17%). The main symptoms were: red spots (90.9%), pruritus (54.5%) and eyes edema (45.5%). Conclusion: The food allergy prevalence reported by parents is high in this age group, and is associated with increased frequency of allergic diseases such as asthma, atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinitis. The main foods reported by parents are part of the usual diet as milk, chocolate, egg, fruit and pork. The diagnosed food allergy prevalence was close to the reported in the literature. It was found lower frequence for milk and peanuts, while eggs and soybeans showed similar average values as found in other studies, and wheat was the only one showing higher prevalence than what reported in the literature. Although numerous studies regarding reported food allergy suggest that food allergens are affected by regional and cultural influences, the foods actually associated to food allergy, the end of the survey, were the same as described in the literature.