Abstract

The study included 73 randomly selected children who were observed during the first year of life. In 24.5% of them, the symptoms of a probable allergic disease, mainly eczema and recurrent or chronic wheezy bronchitis, were found. The majority of all infants were males. Positive immediate family history was established in 44.5% of all allergic infants and the level of cord blood IgE, exceeding 0.5 kU/l were detected in 55.5% of them. Both these parameters were assumed as symptoms of congenital predisposition to allergic diseases in the future. Such predisposition was manifested by 72.2% of infants who showed the symptoms of allergic diseases in the first year of life, and in 30.9% of infants without any symptoms of allergy. Cord blood IgE level test had a greater sensitivity, specificity and efficiency than positive immediate family history as a method of allergy prediction in infants.
key words: allergy, infants, cord blood immunoglobulin E

Keywords: infants, Allergy, cord blood immunoglobulin E