Timing of routine infant vaccinations and risk of food allergy and eczema at one year of age

Abstract

Background Epidemiological evidence suggests that routine vaccinations can have nontargeted effects on susceptibility to infections and allergic disease. Such effects may depend on age at vaccination, and a delay in pertussis vaccination has been linked to reduced risk of allergic disease. We aimed to test the hypothesis that delay in vaccines containing diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) is associated with reduced risk of food allergy and other allergic diseases. Methods HealthNuts is a population-based cohort in Melbourne, Australia. Twelve-month-old infants were skin prick-tested to common food allergens, and sensitized infants were offered oral food challenges to determine foo..