Associations of Colic and Excessive Crying in Infancy with Food Allergy Outcomes in Childhood and Adolescence.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the extent to which food allergies and food-specific IgE levels in childhood and adolescence differ among children who had infant colic, excessive crying without colic, or neither condition.

STUDY

DESIGN

We prospectively followed children in the unselected Project Viva pre-birth cohort. We assessed parent-reported colic (unsoothable crying + apparent abdominal discomfort) and excessive crying without colic in infancy and examined associations with parent-reported food allergy from early childhood through mid-adolescence using multivariable logistic regression. In a subset (n = 242) with available biomarkers, we examined associations of colic with food-specific IgE sensitization in early childhood.

RESULTS

The study sample of 1263 participants was 50% female and 70% non-Hispanic White. Participants who had colic (25%) had a greater risk of any food allergy in early childhood than those unaffected by crying or colic (13% vs 8%; OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1-2.7). In early adolescence, the colic group had 2.1 times the risk of peanut allergy (8% vs 4%; 95% CI 1.1-4.1) and 2.6 times the risk of tree nut allergy (8% vs 3%; 95% CI: 1.3, 5.2) vs the unaffected group; risks persisted into mid-adolescence. In the subset with IgE, the colic group had 2.5 times the risk of early childhood IgE sensitization to peanuts compared with the unaffected (22% vs 11%; 95% CI 1.1-5.6). Excessive crying (10%) was not associated with food allergy outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Colic may be an early marker of food allergy risk. Infants with colic may benefit from proven food allergy prevention strategies, including early, consistent introduction of potentially allergenic foods.