Table 1.
Main demographic and clinical characteristics of the study population.
| Patients with respiratory allergy | Patients with food allergy | Healthy controls | p respiratory allergy vs food allergy | p respiratory allergy vs healthy controls | p food allergy vs healthy controls | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N. | 30 | 55 | 29 | – | – | – |
| Male, n (%)a | 21 (70) | 34 (61.8) | 15 (51.7) | ns | ns | ns |
| Spontaneous delivery, n (%)a | 16 (53.3) | 32 (58.2) | 16 (55.2) | ns | ns | ns |
| Born at term, n (%)a | 30 (100) | 55 (100) | 29 (100) | – | – | – |
| Birth weight, gr (mean, SD)b | 3207 (372.8) | 3241.8 (453.4) | 3145.9 (546.3) | ns | ns | ns |
| Age at diagnosis, months (mean, SD)b | 57.8 (10.9) | 14 (15.1) | – | <0.001 | – | – |
| Age at enrollment, months (mean, SD)b | 57.8 (10.9) | 57.4 (11) | 62.1 (10.1) | ns | ns | ns |
| Breastfeeding for at least 4 weeks, n (%)a | 15 (50) | 41 (74.5) | 20 (69) | 0.023 | ns | ns |
| Duration of breastfeeding, months (mean, SD)b | 7.4 (6.2) | 8.6 (7.4) | 9.5 (9) | ns | ns | ns |
| Weaning age, months (mean, SD)b | 5.3 (0.8) | 5.3 (1.2) | 5.1 (0.7) | ns | ns | ns |
| Familial allergy risk, n (%)a | 19 (63.3) | 40 (72.7) | 0 (0) | ns | <0.001 | <0.001 |
ns not significant, SD standard deviation.
aThe χ2 test was used as statistical test.
bTwo-tailed Student’s t test was used as a statistical test.