Milk Protein Allergy Research
This project was approved for funding in March 2021, and the National Dairy Council is also contributing to the project.
The research study will be conducted by Dr Juan Trujillo Wurttele from Cork University Hospital. He is a specialist in paediatric allergies and sought support for a preliminary study to retrospectively look at data collected from three hospitals (one in Cork and two in Spain – Móstoles and Zaragosa), all using different protocols to treat CMPA.
Information on 200 patients was collected in each hospital. Of the entire sample, in 77% of the patients the treatment was successful, meaning that they acquired tolerance to milk. Successful treatment rates were 87% for the milk ladder in Cork, 61.0% for the avoidance treatment in Móstoles and 85% for the early introduction treatment in Zaragoza, showing significant differences between the avoidance treatment and the other two strategies. Asthma/ viral induced wheeze, allergic rhinitis and a diagnosis of other nut allergy showed a significant association with treatment success.
Conclusion and Clinical Relevance: Cow’s milk can be successfully and safely reintroduced using different treatment strategies other than strict avoidance. The milk ladder, early introduction, and complete avoidance as treatments for CMPA vary in their duration, number of hospital visits required and number of accidental exposures to milk during treatment. Therefore, these factors should be considered when choosing the most appropriate strategy for CMPA given an individual clinic’s resources. This is the first study that compares outcomes of patients undergoing these 3 different strategies for CMPA management, providing a foundation for the creation of new projects that will help to develop new ideas for the management of CMPA.
The study will continue until December 2022 during which time 4 separate research articles will be submitted for publication and the final report will be submitted to the NDC and Dairy Research Trust. The findings will be disseminated to health professionals and outcomes highlighted in the media.