ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To obtain an impression of how often parents of children with Down's syndrome suspect their children of having a food allergy and what action results from this suspicion. DESIGN: Inventorizing controlled descriptive study. 'Zuid-Holland' in the Netherlands. METHODS: An anonymous questionnaire was sent to 110 parents of children with Down's syndrome and 223 control parents. RESULTS: The parents of children with Down's syndrome reported symptoms of their child which might relate to food allergy more frequently than control parents. They reported more respiratory disease symptoms (62% and 53% respectively; pneumonia: 22% and 3%), more gastrointestinal disease symptoms (28% and 17%; constipation or diarrhoea: 28% and 13%), but fewer skin disease symptoms (12% and 26%). 34% of the parents of Down's syndrome children and 22% of the control parents suspected their child of having an allergy and 13% in both groups suspected food to be the allergenic responsible. Medical and laboratory investigations were performed in 37% and 31% and food allergy was diagnosed in 7% and 31% respectively. No elimination-reïntroduction diet was reported as used for diagnosing. Parents of children with Down's syndrome were less satisfied with their consultation of health workers. All parents in both groups who suspected their children of having a food allergy started an elimination diet, 66% found it had a beneficial effect. CONCLUSION: Compared with control parents, parents of children with Down's syndrome reported symptoms relating to food allergy more frequently, suspected their children of having a food allergy equally often, but had it diagnosed less frequently. However, neither group of parents mentioned that an elimination-provocation test was used for the diagnosis.