Parental history of allergy, maternal serum IgE & cord serum Ige

Background: Allergic reactions are responsible for much illness, irritation and disquiet in the life of the child. Recognition and management of allergy in childhood is of great importance to prevent major allergic syndromes.
Aim: To correlate cord serum IgE with parental history of allergy and maternal serum IgE.
Settings and Design: In consultation with the attending gynecologist a survey of 950 pregnant women from different parts of Mumbai, visiting gynecology clinics was carried out.
Method: 100 pregnant women were randomly recruited for the study. Allergic history of both the parents was collected. Blood samples of mothers and matched cord blood samples were collected. Total serum IgE levels were determined using solid-phase immunoradiometric assay. Total serum IgA from each cord blood sample was checked.
Observation & Results: (1) Positive correlation was observed between cord serum IgE and matched maternal serum IgE, with mothers having history of allergy. (2) There was no relation (P=0.99) between cord serum IgE and matched maternal serum IgE, where mothers had no history of allergy. (3) A significant elevation in cord serum IgE was found only with maternal but not with paternal history of allergy. (4) No elevation was found in cord serum IgE (<= 0.5 IU/mL) in 78.6% (11/14) of newborns in spite of both parents having history of allergy. (5) However though there was no parental history of allergy 41.7% (15/36) of newborns showed elevation in cord serum IgE (>0.5 IU/mL). (6) All cord serum samples had IgA< 0.06 IU/mL ruling out the possibility of contamination with maternal blood.
Conclusion: The maternal history of allergic disease is associated with an elevated cord serum IgE among newborns. Cord serum IgE is a simple, non-invasive and convenient test, which can supplement the maternal history to provide more discriminative information about the allergic status of the newborn.