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TOPLINE:
Children with food allergies may have higher-than-expected rates of short stature and low weight, according to a Dutch study.
METHODOLOGY:
- Researchers analyzed height and weight measurements for 114 children with food allergies (median age, 31.16 months; 58.8% boys) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, during 2021-2022.
- One third of the children had cow’s milk allergy.
- They compared the size of these patients to Dutch reference values according to ethnicity.
TAKEAWAY:
- About 6% of the patients had stunting defined as a height-for-age z score of less than -2, compared with an expected rate of 2.5% (P = .03).
- More than 28% had a height-for-age z score or weight-for-age z score of less than -1, compared with an expected rate of about 16% (P < .01).
- Growth trajectories started to significantly deviate from Dutch references starting at 5-11 months.
IN PRACTICE:
“The age period between 5 and 12 months could be the most important time to monitor growth and possibly intervene in growth deterioration” in infants with food allergies, the authors wrote.
SOURCE:
B.J. Vlieg-Boerstra, PhD, with OLVG Hospital, Amsterdam, Netherlands, was the corresponding author of the study, which was published online on December 26 in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.
LIMITATIONS:
Growth patterns in this population might relate to insufficient diet, increased gut permeability, inflammation, diarrhea, or vomiting, but the specific reasons are not known, the authors wrote. The researchers focused on patients at a single center and excluded patients who did not have matching reference values by ethnicity.
DISCLOSURES:
This research was financially supported by Nutricia and OLVG Research. Two authors reported receiving grants, research funding, honoraria, or consultancy or speaker’s fees from various institutions and pharmaceutical companies, including the funders of the study.
This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
