Natural history of IgE-dependent food allergy diagnosed in children during the first three years of life.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to analyze: the course of allergy diagnosed during first three years of life, frequency of food tolerance development and impact of factors which have potential meaning in that process. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was performed in 115 children with IgE-dependent allergy, diagnosed during first three years of life, treated in 2nd Department of Pediatrics and Allergology of Polish Mothers Health Center in Lodz. All children were invited to our clinic in order to analyze course of the allergy after period of minimum 5 years since diagnosis. RESULTS: The results of the study revealed that food tolerance was acquired by high percentage of examined children (87.9%) among 83 children with food allergy. However among 32 children with initial inhalant allergy there were still no food sensitizations. The frequency of this process increased with age of examined children. The study revealed that such factors as lack of family history of atopy, clinical manifestation limited to one system, lack of inhalant allergy, type of allergen, good social conditions, have positive impact on tolerance development. CONCLUSIONS: High percentage of children with food allergy is able to develop the status of food immunotolerance. Factors which predispose to development of food allergy have also negative impact on ability to acquiring tolerance to harmful food. The study indicates the need of constant and wide education about decreasing exposure to allergy predisposing factors which could increase chance of food tolerance development.

The retrospective evaluation of pneumonia and bronchitis cases in infants and small children with atopic dermatitis in the practice of a family doctor - personal observations.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the work is to estimate the occurrence of lower respiratory tract infections in infants and small children with atopic dermatitis and to compare them with a group of children at the same age without features of allergy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study has been conducted on the basis of the retrospective analysis of medical documentation of individual history of disease among children born in 2005 - 2008 treated in an outpatient clinic. RESULTS: Children suffering from atopic dermatitis are more prone to pneumonia and bronchitis. They are also more often hospitalized due to these reasons. Also, this group of patients is more liable to wheezing in the time of infection. CONCLUSIONS: Infants and small children with atopic dermatitis are more prone to lower respiratory tract infections. Recurrence of infections within the respiratory system may be an important risk factor for asthma.

The unusually large striae distensae all over the body.

Striae distensae or stretch marks are cutaneous changes which may appear everywhere on the body, except for the face, and they usually occur in stretching areas. We want to present unusually large striae that developed nearly all the body of a 14-year-old patient during steroid therapy. Such huge striae are very rare, especially when the doses of steroids are not high. Widely spread striae are not a serious disease or disability, but only a cosmetic problem. However, they may lead to a persistent complex and feeling of inferiority or even cause serious depression states, especially in teenagers, as in this case.

The interrelationship between production of reactive oxygen intermediates and inflammatory cytokines by peripheral blood leukocytes in vitro from children with food allergy.

In this study, the activity of neutrophils measured using the chemiluminescence test was estimated in 49 children with food allergy. It was shown that average chemiluminescence values without, as well as after, stimulation by formyl-methionyl-leucine phenylalanine and phorbol myristate acetate were considerably higher in children with allergy in comparison to those in the control group. The correlation between the production of reactive oxygen intermediates and interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5 and IL-10 concentration suggests that an autocrine regulatory mechanism may play a role in allergy in children.

Gastroesophageal reflux in infants with food allergy.

The authors present results of studies in a group of 58 children aged 4-36 months in whom food allergy has been diagnosed. Esophageal 24-hour pH-metric studies revealed the presence of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in 27 cases (46.5%). In 13 cases it was primary and independent of the allergic disease, and in 14 children it showed features of secondary gastroesophageal reflux. Conservative treatment appeared ineffective more frequently in the group of infants with primary reflux (in 23.1% of cases) than in children with secondary reflux and food allergy (in 7.1% of cases). In 4 infants fundoplication according to Nissen was performed.

[Allergy effect on migraine course in older children and adolescents]. / Wplyw alergii na przebieg migreny u dzieci starszych i mlodziezy.

UNLABELLED: The interaction between allergy and migraine has been discussed since many years. The aim of the present study was the evaluation of: 1. allergy prevalence in the studied children with migraine, 2. allergy effect on the clinical course of migraine. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The studied group comprised 30 children and adolescents aged 11-17 years with the diagnosis of migraine with or without aura by IHS criteria. In each case the migraine index was determined and symptoms of allergy were sought. Skin prick test and tests for immunoglobulin E in serum were done. The analysis of results showed the presence of allergy in 12 cases (40%), and on this basis two groups were isolated: with and without allergy. The allergic children were given antiallergic treatment for 6 months (pharmacological or diet restriction). RESULTS: In the allergy group the migraine index decreased significantly from 2.45 to 0.33. Headache intensity decreased as well. CONCLUSIONS: 1. In 40% of cases migraine was associated with allergy. 2. Treatment results suggest that allergy and antiallergic treatment may influence the course of migraine attacks.

[Changes in the visual system in low birth weight children]. / Zmiany w ukladzie wzrokowym u dzieci z niska urodzeniowa masa ciala.

PURPOSE: Evaluation of the visual system, especially refraction, in children with low birth weight under observation between 1990-1992. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 248 children with birth weight 600-2500 g and gestational age 26-37 weeks underwent ophthalmological examination including USG, ERG and VER. The children were first examined between 3-4 weeks of life, then at 8 and 12 weeks and 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. RESULTS: Refractive errors were found in 216 of patients, in 85.2% hypermetropia. ROP occurred in 7 children with birth weight below 1500 g and gestational age 27-32 weeks. Other ocular changes were observed in 19 (7.6%) of the examined children.

Genetic and environmental conditions involved in assessment of the immunological state in children with atopic dermatitis.

78 children were subjected to an analysis of the genetic and environmental conditions which might predispose them to allergy. Some of the parameters of cellular and humoral immunity were estimated. Among the examined children there was a predominance of boys. 46,9% of all the children had a family history of allergy. Most of the children were bottle fed from birth. Some children had abnormalities of the cell-mediated and humoral immunity.