Table 2. Associations of timing and diversity of allergenic food introduction with allergic sensitizations and physician-diagnosed allergies in children at age 10 years.
| Odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for allergic sensitization | Odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for physician-diagnosed allergy | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inhalant n = 3,017 |
Food n = 3,006 |
Inhalant n = 3,617 |
Food n = 3,546 |
|
| Allergenic food introduced at age ≤6 months* | ||||
| Cow's milk (n = 3,847) | 0.99 (0.81, 1.22) | 0.76 (0.50, 1.17) | 0.83 (0.65, 1.08) | 1.44 (0.76, 2.73) |
| Hen's egg (n = 741) | 0.99 (0.76, 1.31) | 1.06 (0.61, 1.85) | 0.74 (0.48, 1.15) | 0.83 (0.32, 2.13) |
| Peanut (n = 303) | 0.74 (0.46, 1.20) | 1.68 (0.69, 4.10) | 0.59 (0.26, 1.37) | 2.55 (0.67, 9.67) |
| Tree nuts (n = 236) | 1.07 (0.55, 2.09) | 0.63 (0.09, 4.34) | 0.84 (0.26, 2.71) | 2.43 (0.47, 12.45) |
| Soy (n = 1,055) | 1.05 (0.85, 1.30) | 0.91 (0.57, 1.45) | 0.97 (0.72, 1.32) | 1.39 (0.72, 2.68) |
| Gluten (n = 2,904) | 0.99 (0.83, 1.19) | 0.71 (0.48, 1.06) | 0.80 (0.63, 1.02) | 0.65 (0.36, 1.18) |
| Diversity of allergenic foods introduced at age ≤6 months† | ||||
| 1 allergenic food introduced (n = 1,754) | 0.97 (0.75, 1.25) | 0.90 (0.53, 1.53) | 0.86 (0.63, 1.19) | 1.56 (0.73, 3.32) |
| 2 allergenic foods introduced (n = 1,516) | 0.94 (0.72, 1.22) | 0.76 (0.44, 1.32) | 0.85 (0.61, 1.18) | 0.77 (0.33, 1.82) |
| ≥3 allergenic foods introduced (n = 987) | 1.01 (0.75, 1.36) | 0.69 (0.36, 1.31) | 0.64 (0.42, 0.98) | 1.56 (0.63, 3.86) |
| P-value for trend | 0.96 | 0.18 | 0.05 | 0.92 |
Values are odds ratios (95% confidence interval) from logistic regression models based on imputed data. Bold values indicate statistical significance at the α = 0.05 level. Reference group is children with *allergenic food introduction at age >6 months or †no allergenic foods introduced at age ≤6 months. Models are adjusted for maternal age at enrollment, education, history of allergy, eczema or asthma, parity, pet keeping, body mass index at enrollment, smoking, psychiatric symptoms, and child's sex, gestational age, birth weight, ethnic origin, breastfeeding, day care attendance and antibiotic use, and mutually for inhalant and food allergic sensitization or allergy.