摘要：Allergies are major noncommunicable diseases associated with significant morbidity, reduced quality of life, and high healthcare costs. Despite decades of research, it is still unknown if early-life exposure to indoor allergens plays a role in the development of IgE-mediated allergy and asthma. The objective of this study is to contribute to the identification of early-life risk factors for developing allergy. We addressed whether two different sources of house dust mite
Der p 1 allergen exposure during early life, i.e., human milk and dust, have different relationships with IgE levels and asthma outcomes in children. We performed longitudinal analyses in 249 mother–child pairs using data from the PIAMA birth cohort. Asthma symptoms and serum total and specific IgE levels in children were available for the first 16 years of life.
Der p 1 levels were measured in human milk and dust samples from infant mattresses. We observed that infant exposure to
Der p 1 through human milk was associated with an increased risk of having high levels of serum IgE (top tertile > 150 kU/mL) in childhood as compared to infants exposed to human milk with undetectable
Der p 1 [adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.83 (1.05–3.20)
p = 0.0294]. The
Der p 1 content in infant mattress dust was not associated with increased IgE levels in childhood. The risk of asthma and
Der p 1 sensitization was neither associated with
Der p 1 in human milk nor with
Der p 1 in dust. In conclusion, high levels of IgE in childhood were associated with
Der p 1 exposure through human milk but not exposure from mattress dust. This observation suggests that human milk is a source of
Der p 1 exposure that is relevant to allergy development and fosters the need for research on the determinants of
Der p 1 levels in human milk.
