Original article: Prevalence and cumulative incidence of food hypersensitivity in the first 3years of life

The prevalence and incidence of food hypersensitivity (FHS) in children is one of the most discussed topics in allergic diseases. There are a number of reports indicating that prevalence of FHS to certain foods may vary between different countries and may have increased in recent years (1–3). Surprisingly however, only one previous study had looked at the cumulative incidence of FHS in children during the first few years of life. The most frequently quoted study performed in the USA almost 20 years ago, reported a cumulative incidence of food allergy in children (age: 1–3 years) to be 7.4% (4). A birth cohort was established on the Isle of Wight (n = 969) to look at the prevalence and cumulative incidence of FHS during the first 3 years of life. At 1 year, 1.0% (8/763) of the infants was sensitized to aeroallergens and 2.2% (17/763) to food allergens. Cumulative incidence of FHS by 12 months was 4% on the basis of open food challenges (OFCs) and 3.2% on the basis of doubleblinded, placebo-controlled, food challenge (DBPCFC). It is well known that self-reported FHS vastly overestimates true FHS. Bock (4) determined that 28% of those who presented with possible symptoms of food allergy were truly food allergic as assessed by food challenges. In the German study 6.8% (5) of those who reported foodrelated problems were diagnosed with FHS and 14.9% in the study by Osterballe et al. (6). The aim of the present study is to address key knowledge gaps with respect to FHS in young children, namely: the prevalence and cumulative incidence of FHS in the first 3 years of life (including both food allergy and nonallergic FHS), and how clinically defined FHS relates to reported symptoms of FHS.