Association Between Asthma and Food Allergy in Children and Adults

Prevalences of food allergies and asthma increased in the population during the last decades. These two pathologies, responsible for a real burden, are often associated and are to be considered as comorbidities; this aspect is more and more studied in the literature and many authors tried to find a link between diets and asthma. The narrow link between these two atopic pathologies and the fact that food allergy can come along with respiratory symptoms also in patients without history of asthma must be better understood, considered into the management of food allergy. The main objective of this study is to study the prevalence of signs and/or symptoms suggestive of bronchial hyperreactivity, during an oral food challenge (OFC) in patients older than 5 years. The secondary objective is to study the risk factors to develop asthma during a food allergy reaction.

This historical-prospective single center study , was realized in the Allergy Unit of the University Hospital of Montpellier. All the patients having been hospitalized for a positive OFC between January, 2001 and January, 2016 were included. The diagnosis of asthma was established according to the recommended international clinical and physiological criteria. Prevalence of bronchial hyperreactivity during OFC among those with positive OFC, was calculated. The search for risk factors was made by a logistic regression univariate then multivariate, completed by a decision tree.