Prevalence Of Allergies In Us Children With Autism. M Altarac Annals of Epidemiology. Volume 8, No. 9. September 2008, pg 708-741.
Abstract
M Altarac, Department of Maternal and Child Health,
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
PURPOSE: To explore association between autism and
respiratory, food or digestive and skin allergies.
METHODS: Prevalence of allergies in US children with and
without autism were calculated using data from the 2003 Na-
tional Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). The NSCH was
designed to produce national and state-speciļ¬c prevalence
estimates for a variety of health indicators and measures of
children’s health. Data analyses were done by SAS callable
SUDAAN in order to account for the complex survey design
and to calculate accurate variance statistics.
RESULTS: Prevalence of respiratory allergy in children
with autism was 26.4% (95% CI 19.9, 34.2) compared with
14.9 % (95% CI 14.5, 15.2) in children without (OR Z 2.1,
95% CI 1.4, 3.0). Prevalence of food or digestive allergy in
children with autism was 14.0% (95% CI 9.8, 19.57), vs.
3.5% (95% CI 3.3, 3.7) in children without (OR Z 4.45,
95% CI 3.0,6.7). Prevalence of skin allergy in children with
autism was 14.9 (95% CI 10.5, 20.8) compared with 9.8%
(95% CI 9.5, 10.1) in children without (OR Z 1.6, 95%
CI 1.1,2.4). In the adjusted logistic regression model, only
food or digestive allergy was associated with autism, with au-
tistic children being almost four times as likely to have a food
or digestive allergy than other children (OR Z 4.7, 95% CI
3.1, 7.2), after adjusting for age, gender, health insurance
status, household education and poverty.
CONCLUSION: Children with autism are about four
times more likely to have a digestive allergy than other
US children. The association between food or digestive al-
lergy and autism deserves more in-depth exploration.