Outcome of oral immunotherapy for persistent cow's milk allergy from 11 years of experience in Finland

Background: The safety and efficacy of long-term milk oral immunotherapy (OIT) in Finnish children with persistent cow's milk allergy (CMA) were evaluated in an open-label, non-randomized study. Methods: During the 11-year study, 296 children aged 5 years or older with immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated CMA started milk OIT. Follow-up data were collected at three time points: the post-buildup phase, 1 year thereafter, and at the cross-sectional long-term follow-up between January 2016 and December 2017. Patients were divided according to baseline milk-specific IgE (sIgE) level and by the amount of milk consumption at the long-term follow-up. The high-dose group consumed >= 2 dL of milk daily, while the failure group consumed Results: Out of the initial study group, 244/296 (83%) patients participated in the long-term follow-up. Among these patients, 136/244 (56%) consumed >= 2 dL of milk daily. The median follow-up time was 6.5 years. Of the recorded markers and clinical factors, the baseline milk sIgE level was most associated with maintaining milk OIT (P