The survey of clinical manifestations of infants with cow’s milk allergy according to the COMISS questionnaire

Abstract

Background: Cow’s milk is one of the first foods added to infants’ diet and cow’s milk allergy (CMA) is the most common food allergy in the first year of life. The aim of this study was to survey the frequency of infants with cow’s milk allergy using COMISS questionnaire. Methods: In a cross-sectional, descriptive study, 100 infants were selected by a convenient method. Demographic information and clinical manifestations were completed based on COMISS Questionnaire for all infants. Data were analyzed using chi-square and independent t-test. Results: The finding of this study shows that from 100 infants (51 males, 49 females), with a mean age of 3.5 ± 1.4, 61% of them were breastfed, 30% were fed both cow’s milk and breast milk, and 9% were fed only cow’s milk. The probability of cow’s milk allergy using the COMISS Questionnaire was positive in 8% of infants. According to the criteria of this Questionnaire, 65% of infants acquired a score of 0-5, 27% scored 6-11, and 8% scored 12 and above A significant association was found between cow’s milk allergy and infant’s diet (p <0.001). A significant association was also found between growth index (weight p=0.05, height p=0.02, and head circumstance p=0.03) and CMA. Conclusion: It seems that using non-invasive methods such as COMISS Questionnaire can be helpful for the diagnosis of CMA and also breastfeeding might be reducing the allergy to cow’s milk.

Keywords

• cow’s milk allergy
• breast feeding
• infants
• comiss
• clinical signs