For the study, researchers examined South Carolina Medicaid administrative data from 2007 to 2009. Researchers then conducted an analysis on records of 1,504 cases of children with food allergies and 5,995 controls without food allergies.
After adjusting for myriad of factors including race, maternal age and urban residence, analysis revealed children administered antibiotics within the first year of life to be 1.21 times more likely to be diagnosed with food allergy than children who hadn’t been treated with antibiotics. The likelihood of a food allergy diagnosis increased with the amount of antibiotics a child received: three prescriptions were linked to a 1.31 times greater risk, four prescriptions were associated with a 1.43 times risk increase and five or more prescriptions were tied to a 1.64 times increase.
The results suggest a potential link between the increased use of antibiotics in young children and the growing number of individuals diagnosed with food allergies.
“We need better diagnostic tools to help identify kids who truly need antibiotics,” said Bryan Love, PharmD, lead researcher and associate professor at the University of South Carolina’s College of Pharmacy in Columbia. “Overusing antibiotics invites more opportunity for side effects, including the potential development of food allergies, and can encourage antibacterial resistance.”
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