WASHINGTON Allergies to peanuts, eggs, and dust mites significantly increase the risk of persistent atopic dermatitis, study results showed.
Pediatric patients with a peanut allergy (OR = 2.9), egg allergy (OR = 2.7), or dust mite allergy (OR = 4.0) were significantly more likely to have persistent atopic dermatitis (AD) than were those without these factors in a study of 177 patients, reported Dr. Ejaz Yousef, chief of pediatric allergy and immunology at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del.
Patients aged 5-18 years were assessed for potential predictors of persistent AD, including race, age at onset, age of solid food introduction, whether the patients were breastfed, smoke exposure, coincident infection, other atopic disease, peripheral eosinophilia, and total IgE level. Predictors were compared with AD remission versus persistence status.
Among the patients, 76% were considered to have persistent disease. No other variables were significantly associated with AD persistence, although there was a trend toward increased risk of persistent disease in those with exposure to tobacco smoke and peripheral eosinophilia, Dr. Yousef said in a poster at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
The findings highlight "the importance of determining the presence of these risk factors in patients with AD, and [of taking] steps to modify those that can be modified" wrote Dr. Yousef.
Dr. Yousef reported having no relevant financial relationships.