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In 2184 young children aged 13-24 months with atopic dermatitis (SCORAD 5-59) serum IgE antibodies to a standard panel of food and inhalant allergens were assayed. The frequency of positive IgE responses ( > 0.35 kU/1) increased with greater severity of skin disease. A significant minority of infants had levels of IgE antibody to foods to suggest they were at risk of acute reaction to those foods (7% to hen's egg, 3% to cow's milk, 4% to peanut). Our findings indicate that the frequency of positive IgE responses is related to disease severity and suggest that differences in the time course of the development of IgE responses to food, which are at maximum prevalence within the first year of life, while inhalant allergies, are still developing between 1 and 2 yr and beyond.

Developmental changes during infancy and childhood can affect drug pharmacokinetics (PK), i.e., absorption, distribution, metabolism, and renal excretion. This, in turn, influences optimal dosing, efficacy, and safety. To date, of the 40 H1-antihistamines available worldwide, only 11 have been studied in children using a PK approach. Here, we provide the pediatricians' perspective on the population PK of levocetirizine, the pharmacologically active enantiomer of cetirizine, in very young children who received oral cetirizine, and describe the factors that influence levocetirizine PK in this population. In a prospective, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled study, very young children received oral cetirizine 0.25 mg/kg twice daily for 18 months. Plasma levocetirizine concentrations were measured in timed, sparse blood samples collected at steady-state (3, 12 and 18 months after commencement of treatment) for the purpose of monitoring safety, and levocetirizine population, PK parameters were derived by using non-linear mixed effects modeling. In 343 children (age 14-46 months, body weight 8.2-20.5 kg), a total of 943 blood samples were obtained. Compliance with cetirizine dosing was documented. The population PK model used predicted that with increasing body weight, levocetirizine oral clearance would increase by 0.044 l/h/kg, and levocetirizine volume of distribution would increase by 0.639 l/kg. Levocetirizine PK were not influenced by eosinophilia, sensitization to allergens, allergic disease, gastroenteritis/diarrhea, or concomitant ingestion of other medications. This population PK model predicts that in very young children, the oral clearance of levocetirizine will be rapid and will increase as body weight and age increase, therefore, levocetirizine dosing should be based on body weight and age in this population. Compared with older patients, on a mg/kg basis, relatively higher doses may be needed, and twice-daily dosing may be necessary, as previously reported for the related racemic H1-antihistamine cetirizine.

A joint study group on cow's milk allergy was convened by the Emilia-Romagna Working Group for Paediatric Allergy and by the Emilia-Romagna Working Group for Paediatric Gastroenterology to focus best practice for diagnosis, management and follow-up of cow's milk allergy in children and to offer a common approach for allergologists, gastroenterologists, general paediatricians and primary care physicians. The report prepared by the study group was discussed by members of Working Groups who met three times in Italy. This guide is the result of a consensus reached in the following areas. Cow's milk allergy should be suspected in children who have immediate symptoms such as acute urticaria/angioedema, wheezing, rhinitis, dry cough, vomiting, laryngeal edema, acute asthma with severe respiratory distress, anaphylaxis. Late reactions due to cow's milk allergy are atopic dermatitis, chronic diarrhoea, blood in the stools, iron deficiency anaemia, gastroesophageal reflux disease, constipation, chronic vomiting, colic, poor growth (food refusal), enterocolitis syndrome, protein-losing enteropathy with hypoalbuminemia, eosinophilic oesophagogastroenteropathy. An overview of acceptable means for diagnosis is included. According to symptoms and infant diet, three different algorithms for diagnosis and follow-up have been suggested.