Food-specific immunoglobulin E among children with atopic dermatitis: a retrospective study

This retrospective study included 133 children aged between 2 and 16 years with elevated serum food-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE), including 59 children clinically diagnosed with atopic dermatitis (AD) and 74 children clinically diagnosed with atopic disease without AD (asthma, allergic rhinitis, or both). Six common serum food-specific IgEs were detected by the Pharmacia ImmunoCAP test, including: egg white, milk, peanut, soybean, shrimp and egg yolk. Serum total IgE was also measured. The results showed that both AD and non-AD atopic children had the highest sensitization rate to shrimp. AD children had significantly higher serum total IgE and average number of positive food sensitization items than atopic children without AD. Three serum food-specific IgEs, including peanut, soybean and egg yolk, were significantly higher in children with AD than in those without AD. Furthermore, 3 pairs of food-specific IgEs were correlated with each other in AD children: egg white IgE correlated with peanut IgE, egg white IgE correlated with egg yolk IgE, and peanut IgE correlated with soybean IgE. In logistic regression analysis of the serum of 6 food allergen-specific IgEs in AD children, we found that elevated peanut- and egg yolk-specific IgE were risk factors of AD in elevated serum food-specific IgE children whose serum total IgE was less than 1000 kU/L but not in those with total IgE greater than 1000 kU/L.