Blog
Card image cap
Guidelines may over-diagnose of cow's milk allergy in infants

New guidelines have come up to help doctors diagnose milk allergy in infants and young children. They came up with official guidelines for detecting milk allergy as a possible cause.

Researchers were examining milk allergy guidelines for last 12 years that were published. The team found that warning symptoms were such as excessive crying, reflux of milk, and loose stools as signs of an allergy. The authors argue that these symptoms are very common in normal, healthy babies. 

 The analysis also found that prescriptions for special formulas for children with allergies to milk  increased significantly between 2000 and 2018 Uk ,America and other countries. There was no evidence.

The team also found that in 7 of the 9 guidelines, breastfeeding women recommend eliminating all dairy products from their diet if they suspect their babies are allergic to milk.  Suspected milk allergy can be dangerous for infants. 

A milk allergy undiagnosed  can switch to another illness with similar symptoms, or a nursing mother may be on an unnecessarily restricted diet or even stop breastfeeding completely.

 Milk allergy mostly seen in  children below 2 years old and is of two types: IgE mediated and non IgE mediated. Reflux of milk, crying and rash, but most of these symptoms usually appear in children and go away over time.

Non-IgE milk allergy affects less than 1% of babies, while bothersome vomiting, crying or eczema affects 1520% of babies. We need to assess the guidelines and the development of the guidelines from those who might benefit from them, while avoiding  overdiagnosis of milk allergy. 

 Recent UK analysis  suggests that international guidelines diagnose milk allergy  may discourage breastfeeding by overdiagnosing the problem.

 A study published Wednesday in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Allergy at the University of Bristol, UK, found that most of the symptoms listed in the milk allergy guidelines are not only common and normal, they are also caused by an allergy to the milk .About Tolerance study on 1,303 children aged 3 to 12 months  in the UK to count the number of children with monthly milk allergy symptoms  as defined in the international milk allergy guidelines in primary care. 

Guidelines May Support Overdiagnosis of Cow's Milk Allergy in Infants 

  Cow allergy can present with both acute and delayed symptoms.  Delayed milk allergy is difficult to diagnose because many of these symptoms are already known to be common in infants.  The number of infants with two or more symptoms at 6 months of age did not differ between the milk and non-milk groups. 

 Taken together, these data indicate that most of the symptoms listed in the Milk Allergy Guidelines are common, normal, and not due to a milk allergy. They calculated how many babies had symptoms of milk allergy each month, as defined in the International Guidelines for Milk Allergy in Primary Care. 

 

Elevate your practice with our advanced AI-based CDSS Tool. Transform your practice now!
Try AIDE