Predicting food allergy: The value of patient history reinforced.

Background: EAACI guidelines emphasize the importance of patient history in diagnosing food allergy (FA) and the need for studies investigating its value using standardized allergy-focused questionnaires.

Objective: To determine the contribution of reaction characteristics, allergic comorbidities and demographics to prediction of FA in individuals experiencing food-related adverse reactions.

Methods: Adult and school-age participants in the standardized EuroPrevall population surveys, with self-reported FA, were included.

Predictors of Food Sensitization in Children and Adults Across Europe.

Background: The geographical variation and temporal increase in the prevalence of food sensitization (FS) suggest environmental influences.

Objective: To investigate how environment, infant diet, and demographic characteristics, are associated with FS in children and adults, focusing on early-life exposures.

Methods: Data on childhood and adult environmental exposures (including, among others, sibship size, day care, pets, farm environment, and smoking), infant diet (including breast-feeding and timing of introduction to infant formula and solids), and demographic characteristics were collected from 2196 school-age children and 2185 adults completing an extensive questionnaire and blood sampling in the cross-sectional pan-European EuroPrevall project.

Prevalence of Food Sensitization and Food Allergy in Children Across Europe.

Background: For adults, prevalence estimates of food sensitization (FS) and food allergy (FA) have been obtained in a standardized manner across Europe. For children, such estimates are lacking.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of self-reported FA, FS, probable FA (symptoms plus IgE sensitization), and challenge-confirmed FA in European school-age children.

Comparative Study of Food Allergies in Children from China, India, and Russia: The EuroPrevall-INCO Surveys.

Background: A clear understanding of the differences in the epidemiology of food allergy between rural and urban populations may provide insights into the causes of increasing prevalence of food allergy in the developed world.

Objective: We used a standardized methodology to determine the prevalence and types of food-specific allergic sensitization and food allergies in schoolchildren from urban and rural regions of China, Russia, and India.

Methods: The current study is a multicenter epidemiological survey of children recruited from 5 cities in China (Hong Kong and Guangzhou), Russia (Tomsk), and India (Bengaluru and Mysore) and 1 rural county in Southern China (Shaoguan).

Food Allergy in Adults: Substantial Variation in Prevalence and Causative Foods Across Europe.

Background: According to the community-based EuroPrevall surveys, prevalence of self-reported food allergy (FA) in adults across Europe ranges from 2% to 37% for any food and 1% to 19% for 24 selected foods.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of probable FA (symptoms plus specific IgE-sensitization) and challenge-confirmed FA in European adults, along with symptoms and causative foods.

Methods: In phase I of the EuroPrevall project, a screening questionnaire was sent to a random sample of the general adult population in 8 European centers.

Food allergy in the Netherlands: differences in clinical severity, causative foods, sensitization and DBPCFC between community and outpatients.

Background: It is unknown whether food allergy (FA) in an unselected population is comparable to those from an outpatient clinic population.

Objective: To discover if FA in a random sample from the Dutch community is comparable to that of outpatients.

Methods: This study was part of the Europrevall-project.

The association between foodborne and orofecal pathogens and allergic sensitisation -- EuroPrevall study.

Background: An inverse association between markers of exposure to foodborne and orofecal pathogens and allergic sensitization has been reported. However, the findings of epidemiological studies have not been consistent. This study investigated the relationship between antibodies to hepatitis A, Toxoplasma gondii and salmonella and allergic sensitization to food and aeroallergens in children from different geographical areas.

Influence of alternative lifestyles on self-reported body weight and health characteristics in women.

Background: Alternative lifestyles are often associated with distinct practices with respect to nutrition, physical activity, smoking, alcohol use and usage of complementary medicine. Evidence concerning effects of these lifestyle-related practices on health status is still fragmentary.

Objective: To describe maternal health characteristics related to alternative lifestyles, with emphasis on body-weight status, during pregnancy and maternity periods.

EuroPrevall survey on prevalence and pattern of self-reported adverse reactions to food and food allergies among primary schoolchildren in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The aim of the research was to assess the prevalence and pattern of self-reported adverse reactions to food and food allergies among primary schoolchildren in Vilnius. MATERIAL AND METHODS. Vilnius University was a partner in the EuroPrevall project.

Effect of area of residence on patterns of aeroallergen sensitization in atopic patients.

Background: An association with sensitization to inhaled allergens and allergic rhinitis and asthma has been established. A recent study concluded that the disparity in allergen sensitization might primarily be caused by environmental factors rather than genetic differences. The primary objective was to identify potential differences in sensitization among subjects with the same ethnicity in South India who reside in different environments.

Breast-feeding duration and infant atopic manifestations, by maternal allergic status, in the first 2 years of life (KOALA study).

Objective: To investigate the potential effect of modification by maternal allergic status on the relationship between breast-feeding duration and infant atopic manifestations in the first 2 years of life.

Study Design: Data from 2705 infants of the KOALA Birth Cohort Study (The Netherlands) were analyzed. The data were collected by repeated questionnaires at 34 weeks of gestation and 3, 7, 12, and 24 months postpartum.

Consumption of organic foods and risk of atopic disease during the first 2 years of life in the Netherlands.

We prospectively investigated whether organic food consumption by infants was associated with developing atopic manifestations in the first 2 years of life. The KOALA Birth Cohort Study in the Netherlands (n 2764) measured organic food consumption, eczema and wheeze in infants until age 2 years using repeated questionnaires. Diet was defined as conventional ( 90 % organic).

Influence of organic diet on the amount of conjugated linoleic acids in breast milk of lactating women in the Netherlands.

The aim of the present study was to find out whether the incorporation of organic dairy and meat products in the maternal diet affects the contents of the conjugated linoleic acid isomers (CLA) and trans-vaccenic acid (TVA) in human breast milk. To this purpose, milk samples from 312 breastfeeding mothers participating in the KOALA Birth Cohort Study have been analysed. The participants had documented varying lifestyles in relation to the use of conventional or organic products.

Diphtheria, pertussis, poliomyelitis, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccinations and risk of eczema and recurrent wheeze in the first year of life: the KOALA Birth Cohort Study.

Objectives: Among potential etiologic factors for atopic manifestations, infant vaccinations have recently been discussed. We evaluated in a prospective design whether infants who were unvaccinated or vaccinated according to incomplete vaccination schedules in the first 6 months of age were at decreased risk for eczema and recurrent wheeze in the first year of life.

Methods: Information on vaccinations against diphtheria, pertussis, poliomyelitis, tetanus; Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine; and eczema and recurrent wheeze was collected by repeated questionnaires in 2764 families participating in the KOALA Birth Cohort Study in The Netherlands.

Early life exposure to antibiotics and the subsequent development of eczema, wheeze, and allergic sensitization in the first 2 years of life: the KOALA Birth Cohort Study.

Objectives: Antibiotic exposure in early life may be associated with atopic disease development either by interfering with bacterial commensal flora or by modifying the course of bacterial infections. We evaluated early life exposure to antibiotics and the subsequent development of eczema, wheeze, and allergic sensitization in infancy.

Methods: Information on antibiotic use in the first 6 months and eczema and wheeze until age 2 was collected by repeated questionnaires in 2764 families participating in the KOALA (Child, Parent and Health: Lifestyle and Genetic Constitution [in Dutch]) Birth Cohort Study in The Netherlands.

Breastfeeding and infant eczema in the first year of life in the KOALA birth cohort study: a risk period-specific analysis.

Objective: We studied the association between breastfeeding and eczema, taking into account the possible influence of reverse causation, with risk period-specific analyses.

Methods: Information on breastfeeding, determinants, and outcomes at 1 year of age was collected with repeated questionnaires for 2405 mother-infant pairs participating in the KOALA (Child, Parent and Health: Lifestyle and Genetic Constitution [in Dutch]) birth cohort study. By using multivariate logistic regression analysis, we compared an overall analysis with risk period-specific analyses.

Gut microbiota composition and development of atopic manifestations in infancy: the KOALA Birth Cohort Study.

Background And Aims: Perturbations in intestinal microbiota composition due to lifestyle changes may be involved in the development of atopic diseases. We examined gut microbiota composition in early infancy and the subsequent development of atopic manifestations and sensitisation.

Methods: The faeces of 957 infants aged 1 month and participating in the KOALA Birth Cohort Study were analysed using quantitative real-time PCR.

Factors influencing the composition of the intestinal microbiota in early infancy.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the contribution of a broad range of external influences to the gut microbiotic composition in early infancy.

Methods: Fecal samples from 1032 infants at 1 month of age, who were recruited from the KOALA Birth Cohort Study in the Netherlands, were subjected to quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assays for the enumeration of bifidobacteria, Escherichia coli, Clostridium difficile, Bacteroides fragilis group, lactobacilli, and total bacterial counts. Information on potential determinants of the gut microbiotic composition was collected with repeated questionnaires.

Etiology of atopy in infancy: the KOALA Birth Cohort Study.

The aim of the KOALA Birth Cohort Study in the Netherlands is to identify factors that influence the clinical expression of atopic disease with a main focus on lifestyle (e.g., anthroposophy, vaccinations, antibiotics, dietary habits, breastfeeding and breast milk composition, intestinal microflora composition, infections during the first year of life, and gene-environment interaction).

Secondary gain as hidden motive for getting psychiatric treatment.

Background: A high proportion (42.4%) of outpatients attending a psychiatric hospital appears to harbor expectations of secondary gain and hide this from their psychiatrists. This study investigated whether the prevalence of expectations of secondary gain could be replicated in a different sample, namely, a general hospital outpatient clinic attended by patients with less severe mental disorders, and whether patients hid these expectations from the psychiatrists they consulted.