Avoidance of Hen's Egg Based on IgE Levels Should Be Avoided for Children With Hen's Egg Allergy

• Main Authors: Yoshitsune Miyagi (Author), Kiwako Yamamoto-Hanada (Author), Hiroya Ogita (Author), Tomoyuki Kiguchi (Author), Yusuke Inuzuka (Author), Kenji Toyokuni (Author), Koji Nishimura (Author), Makoto Irahara (Author), Fumi Ishikawa (Author), Miori Sato (Author), Mayako Saito-Abe (Author), Yumiko Miyaji (Author), Shigenori Kabashima (Author), Tatsuki Fukuie (Author), Ichiro Nomura (Author), Yukihiro Ohya (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A., 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 2296-2360; 10.3389/fped.2020.583224
• Keywords: hen's egg allergy; food allergy; avoidance; IgE; sensitization; oral tolerance; Pediatrics; RJ1-570
• Source: Frontiers in Pediatrics, Vol 8 (2021)

Background: Although hen's egg (HE) allergy was thought to be usually resolved by late childhood, majority of HE allergy patients with a high level of egg white (HEW)-specific IgE could not acquire tolerance for HE by age 8 years.Objective: The aim is to investigate whether the avoidance of HE until 6 years of age increased the risk of heated HE allergy at age 6 years.Methods: This was a retrospective case-control study. The HE tolerance children (n = 17) and children with low-dose HE reactor [a positive reaction to ≤ 4 g of heated HEW in oral food challenges (OFCs)] children (n = 26) were included based on the results of OFC at 6 years old. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied to examine the associations between HE avoidance until age 6 years and HE allergy status confirmed by OFC, adjusting the level of ovomucoid-specific IgE (OM-sIgE) during early infancy.Results: A lower proportion of strict avoidance of HE was observed in the HE tolerance group than in the low-dose HE reactor group (6 vs. 46%, p = 0.006). OM-sIgE levels in children younger than 2 years old were significantly higher in the low-dose HE reactor group than those in the HE tolerance group (median [interquartile], 26.7 UA/mL [11.9-53.4] vs. 7.9 UA/mL [0.35-23.4]; p =0.024). The avoidance of HE until 6 years of age increased the risk of heated HE allergy even after adjusting OM-sIgE levels.Conclusions: The long-term avoidance of HE from infancy increased the risk of heated HE allergy confirmed by OFC at age 6 years.