Limitations and strenghts
It is difficult to avoid low follow-up rates in birth cohorts with long
term follow-up. Yet in our study, the follow-up rate was considerably
high at 85% for group A and 78% and 70% for group B, at 15 and 26
years, respectively. A limitation in our study was a small sample size.
However, we have well defined sample of both infants with CMPA and a
random sample of children from the same 1-year brth cohort. And all
participants were followed closely and carefully in childhood up to 15
years of age and finally into adulthood at 26 years of age.
Participation in a cohort study may cause the participants to avoid
possible risk factors due to increased awareness of allergic diseases,
resulting in an underestimation of prevalence. Concurrently, an
overestimation of prevalence amongst those with complete follow-up
should be considered, since subjects with allergic diseases may be most
motivated to participate in the study
We consider our data to have good validity and the results to be
generalizable to the Danish population. All clinical investigations were
performed or supervised by the same two pediatric allergologists (SH and
AH) and included a rigorous methodology. We used predefined, generally
accepted diagnostic criteria.
Conclusion
CMPA has a good prognosis regarding recovery rate. CMPA and
sensitization in early childhood predict sensitization as well as
development and often persistence of allergic diseases later in
childhood and into adulthood. Children with CMPA exhibit a higher
prevalence of asthma and rhinoconjunctivitis at 15 years of age, and at
26 years of age a higher prevalence of asthma and atopic dermatitis.