Prevalence of atopic diseases
Many studies have been reported on the natural course of CMPA, risk factors for CMPA, recovery rates and on predictive factors of persisting CMPA. To our knowledge, there are no prior longitudinal studies spanning decades on the natural history of atopic diseases in children diagnosed with CMPA during the first year of life. Compared to the group of randomly selected children, children with CMPA had significantly (p<0.05) higher prevalence of asthma and rhinoconjunctivitis at 15 years of age. At 26 years of age, children with CMPA had significantly (p<0.05) higher current prevalence of astma and atopic dermatitis.
The concept of an atopic march, which explains the apparent progression of allergic diseases from AD to AA and to RC, is supported by the findings in both groups.
The atopic march hypothesizes that manifestation of allergic diseases begins in early childhood with the development of AD, then AA, progressing finally to RC (5). The 26 year follow-up in this study suggests, that allergic diseases such as AD and AA persist until adulthood in children diagnosed with CMPA during their first year of life.