Eureka! Institutional Repository

Food allergy is an atopic disease with increasing prevalence over the past two decades. The purpose of this study was to investigate for the first time the epidemiology of food allergy in Cypriot primary school children and the confounding factors affecting its appearance. Of all 3000 questionnaires distributed in a randomized way to children aged 5-12, 307 were returned from their parents (response rate, 10.2%). Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 21. 9.4% of the children reported food allergy, with boys experiencing a higher incidence than girls (6.8% to 2.6%). Milk, tomatoes, wheat, mustard, sesame, peanuts, hazelnuts and walnuts were found to be the most common causative for food allergic reactions, .Factors favoring its appearance seemed to be; living in a farm, having siblings, and exposure to passive smoking up to 2 years of age. Children whose families had pets seemed to be less likely to have food allergies. Also, consumption of milk substitutes seemed to have a protective role. In contrast, taking antibiotics appeared to be a factor that causes reported adverse reactions to foods.