Allergy in early childhood raises later risk of ADHD development: Study
Israel: Allergy in early childhood signiifcantly increase the risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in later life, reveals a recent study. The researchers add that, "in order to provide an early diagnosis and treatment, the caregivers should be aware of this risk."
The study results were presented at the AAAAI annual meeting 2022 and subsequently published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology on February 01, 2022.
Previous studies on the association between allergic disorders and ADHD have reported controversial results. Therefore, Shay Nemet, Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, Israel, and colleagues aimed to investigate whether allergic disorders are risk factor for ADHD development in a large cohort of pediatric patients.
For this purpose, the researchers conducted a retrospective study using the pediatric (0-18 years) database of Clalit Health services during the years (2000-2018). Diagnosis of all disorders was made by specialist physicians.
The study enrolled 117,022 consecutive non-selective allergic children diagnosed with one or more allergic disorder -- asthma, rhinitis,conjunctivitis, skin, food or drug allergy -- and 116,968 non-allergic children.
Following were the key findings of the study:
- ADHD was diagnosed in 33008 children (14 % of the entire cohort) at a mean age of 8.5 63.4 years.
- The presence of one or more allergic disorders in early childhood (mean age at allergic diagnosis 4.564.3 years) in boys as well as in girls, significantly increased the risk to develop ADHD (O.R 2.45).
- Significant high risk was observed for each allergic disorder which was studied separately.
- The risk increased significantly in children with several allergic comorbidities (up to O.R of 5 for children with 4 or more allergic disorders).
- In a multivariable analysis (adjusted for age at study entry, number of yearly visits and gender) the risk of allergic children to develop ADHD remained significantly higher.
"Allergic disorders during early childhood significantly increase the risk to develop ADHD in later life," wrote the authors. "Caregivers should be aware of this risk in order to provide an early diagnosis and treatment."
Reference:
The study titled, "Allergy In Early Childhood Is A Risk Factor For The Development Of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)," was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2021.12.415
KEYWORDS: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, allergy, children, early childhood, ADHD, allergic disorders, asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, skin, food allergy, drug allergy, pediatric patients, Shay Nemet
