Allergic diseases are more common in children with congenital surgical anomalies or necrotizing enterocolitis compared to the general population.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess whether a history of congenital surgical anomaly (CSA) or necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) increased the prevalence of allergic diseases.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective study of children with CSA or NEC from 1991 to 2022. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) of rhinitis, dermatitis, asthma, food and drug allergy, conjunctivitis, urticaria and allergic gastroenteritis identified by ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CA codes in cases versus date-of-birth matched controls.

RESULTS

We identified a total of 1168 cases and 11,648 controls. Asthma (OR = 1.62, p < 0.01) and allergic gastroenteritis (OR = 6.66, p < 0.01) were more common in all cases compared to all controls. We compared each surgical anomaly separately: asthma prevalence was higher in esophageal atresia (OR = 3.62, p < 0.01) and NEC cases (OR = 2.69, p < 0.01), while allergic gastroenteritis was higher in congenital diaphragmatic hernia (OR = 13.35, p = 0.04), gastroschisis (OR = 25.91, p = 0.02), Hirschsprung disease (OR = 43.64, p < 0.01), intestinal atresia (OR = 8.86, p = 0.03) and NEC cases (OR = 10.34, p = 0.01).

CONCLUSION

We demonstrated that congenital surgical anomaly patients have a higher risk of asthma and allergic gastroenteritis than the general population. Individual congenital surgical anomalies have specific increased prevalence of certain allergic diseases. Early detection and personalized management of these allergic diseases may reduce long-term incidence and improve treatment.