Cow's Milk Allergy, Asthma, and Pediatric IBD

We identified a total of 595 Finnish children born in 1994-2008 and diagnosed as having inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by October 2010 from the National Reimbursement Register (based on certificates including the diagnostic criteria) to determine whether the presence of cow's milk allergy (CMA) or asthma is associated with the risk of contracting IBD (altogether 2380 matched controls). A diagnosis of CMA in infancy was associated with Crohn disease (odds ratio [OR] 1.92, confidence interval [CI] 1.09-3.36, P<0.05) and ulcerative colitis (OR 1.71, CI 1.04-2.83, P<0.05), but childhood asthma only with Crohn disease (OR 2.33, CI 1.41-3.86, P - 0.001). Thus, CMA in infants is a risk factor for contracting pediatric IBD and accordingly, asthma for Crohn disease.