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Whose baby has a higher risk of developing an allergy? |
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Pregnant women with a family history of allergic disease have babies with a higher than average risk of developing allergies. This means that the mother or father, or the brother or sister of the expected baby have allergic symptoms (e.g. asthma, eczema or hayfever).
SiPS Parents - Parents enrolled in the nutritional intervention study
The mothers who enrolled in SiPs were a mixture of women in their first pregnancy (44%) or second or subsequent pregnancy (59%). Over a third of the mothers and fathers had a history of asthma while about half of the mothers and fathers had hay fever history. A smaller proportion of mothers and fathers had previously had eczema. Where possible, parents were skin tested when they came in for the baby’s 6-month check-up. These tests were made to see if the parents had allergic sensitivities to a panel of common allergens (solutions prepared from house dust mite, cat fur, dog hair, grass pollens, tree pollens and moulds). Sixty seven percent of fathers and sixty percent of mothers were positive to one or more of these common allergens. The numbers of mothers or fathers with allergies or positive skin tests were not different between the SiPS ‘salmon’ or control groups.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 August 2010 )
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Human health