Associations of Colic and Excessive Crying in Infancy with Food Allergy Outcomes in Childhood and Adolescence

OBJECTIVE: To assess the extent to which food allergies and food-specific IgE levels in childhood and adolescence differ among children who had infant colic, excessive crying without colic, or neither condition. STUDY DESIGN: We prospectively followed children in the unselected Project Viva pre-birth cohort. We assessed parent-reported colic (unsoothable crying + apparent abdominal discomfort) and excessive crying without colic in infancy and examined associations with parent-reported food allergy from early childhood through mid-adolescence using multivariable logistic regression. In a subset (n = 242) with available biomarkers, we examined associations of colic with food-specific IgE sensitization in early childhood. RESULTS: The study sample of 1263 participants was 50% female and 70% non-Hispanic White. Participants who had colic (25%) had a greater risk of any food allergy in early childhood than those unaffected by crying or colic (13% vs 8%; OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1-2.7). In early adolescence, the colic group had 2.1 times the risk of peanut allergy (8% vs 4%; 95% CI 1.1-4.1) and 2.6 times the risk of tree nut allergy (8% vs 3%; 95% CI: 1.3, 5.2) vs the unaffected group; risks persisted into mid-adolescence. In the subset with IgE, the colic group had 2.5 times the risk of early childhood IgE sensitization to peanuts compared with the unaffected (22% vs 11%; 95% CI 1.1-5.6). Excessive crying (10%) was not associated with food allergy outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Colic may be an early marker of food allergy risk. Infants with colic may benefit from proven food allergy prevention strategies, including early, consistent introduction of potentially allergenic foods.