A research team in Korea has published a study showing that children diagnosed with food allergy have a higher risk of fracture than those without.
Kyung Hee Medical Center Digital Health Center Prof. Yeong-Gun Yeong’s team (Professor Lee Seung-won of Sungkyunkwan University, Professor Shin Jae-il of Yonsei University, Professor Shin Yun-ho of Cha University, Researcher Kwon Ro-ji of Kyung Hee University) published these results in the online January issue of ‘European Allergy Journal’ (Allgergy).
The research team analyzed the fracture risk rate according to food allergy symptoms in 1.78 million children registered with the National Health Insurance Service from 2009 to 2015.
As a result, it was found that the risk of bone fracture in pediatric patients with food allergy was 11% higher than that in normal children.
The severity of food allergy symptoms increased the risk of fracture. The risk of fracture in pediatric patients with mild symptoms was 9%, whereas the risk of fracture in severe pediatric patients with anaphylaxis was as high as 21%. In addition, the risk of fracture tended to increase as the number of hospital visits due to food allergy was three or more or the age at diagnosis was low.
Professor Yeon said, “Children with food allergies have difficulty in consuming nutrients evenly due to extensive food avoidance, and in particular, they appear to have a high risk of fractures due to weak immune systems and bones due to lack of vitamin D and calcium.” It is necessary to accurately diagnose the causative food and find alternative foods to prevent nutritional imbalance.”
Meanwhile, the title of the thesis is ‘Association of fractures in children with the development of food allergy: A Korean nationwide birth cohort study’.
