Psychiatric disorders and symptoms severity in pre-school children with cow's milk allergy

BackgroundPsychiatric disorders are seen frequently in atopic diseases. The present study aims to evaluate the frequency of psychiatric disorders and the severity of psychiatric symptoms in pre-school children with cow's milk allergy.MethodsThe parents of the pre-school children with cow's milk allergy were interviewed in person and asked to fill out the Early Childhood Inventory-4 form.ResultsThe cow's milk allergy group included 40 children (27 male, 13 female) with mean age, 44.5 ± 14.7 months, and the control group included 41 children (25 male, 16 female) with mean age, 47.6 ± 15.2 months. It was established that 65% of the group with cow's milk allergy received at least one psychiatric diagnosis, while 36.6% of the control group received at least one psychiatric diagnosis, with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.02). Within the psychiatric disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (odds ratio: 4.9, 95% CI: 1.472–16.856, p = 0.006), oppositional defiant disorder (odds ratio: 5.6, 95% CI: 1.139–28.128, p = 0.026), and attachment disorder (odds ratio: 4.8, 95% CI: 1.747–13.506, p = 0.004) were found significantly higher compared with the healthy control group. When the groups were compared in terms of psychiatric symptom severity scores, calculated by using the Early Childhood Inventory-4 form, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders severity (p = 0.006) and oppositional defiant disorder severity (p = 0.037) were found to be higher in the cow's milk allergy group.ConclusionPsychiatric disorders are frequent and severe in pre-school children with cow's milk allergy.