Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of participating families and allergy related disease in the children at 2 years
| Characteristics | Probiotic | Placebo | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | n | |||
| Age, mother, yrs mean (SD) | 129 | 30.5 (3.9) | 130 | 30.3 (4.1) |
| Sex (male), child, n (%) | 129 | 67 (51.9) | 130 | 53 (40.8) |
| Siblings, n (%) | 129 | 60 (46.5) | 130 | 54 (41.5) |
| Atopy in family, n (%) | 129 | 91 (70.5) | 130 | 96 (73.9) |
| Maternal atopy, n (%) | 129 | 58 (45.0) | 129 | 68 (52.7) |
| Maternal smokinga, n (%) | 129 | 9 (7.0) | 130 | 11 (8.5) |
| Compliantb, n(%) | 125 | 113 (90.4) | 128 | 115 (89.8) |
| Allergy related disease at 2 years | n | n (%) | n | n (%) | p-valuec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atopic dermatitis, n (%) | 129 | 29 (22.5) | 130 | 45 (34.6) | 0.031 |
| Asthma, n (%) | 129 | 7 (5.4) | 130 | 12 (9.2) | 0.240 |
| Allergic rhinoconjunctivits, n (%) | 125 | 1 (0.8) | 129 | 0 (0.0) | 0.492 |
| Sensitisationd, n (%) | 122 | 19 (15.6) | 124 | 15 (12.1) | 0.429 |
aMaternal smoking reported during pregnancy, 6 weeks or 12 months postpartum; b Compliance with the study protocol was defined by consumption of the study milk on at least 50 % of days from 36 weeks gestation to 12 postpartum, no consumption of other products with probiotics and at least partial breastfeeding until 3 months postpartum; c p-value calculated using χ2-test, except for allergic rhinoconjunctivits where a Fisher’s exact p value is reported; d Allergic sensitisation defined as positive skin prick test (wheal ≥ 3 mm) and or positive sIgE (≥ 0.35 kUL−1)