Résumé
BACKGROUND AND AIM[|]Diet is the major source of exposure to environmental chemicals in children. The aim of this study is to investigate the link between dietary exposure to mixtures of chemicals, during the complementary feeding period and allergic and respiratory diseases in children up to 8 years.[¤]METHOD[|]724 children from the EDEN mother-child cohort were included. Dietary exposure to chemicals was previously assessed by combining children’s food intake at 8 months with chemicals concentrations in food stuff assessed in the French infant total diet study. Then, exposure to mixtures of chemicals was assessed using sparse nonnegative matrix under approximation. Four allergic and respiratory multimorbidity clusters (“asymptomatic” considered as the reference group, “asthma only”, “allergies without asthma”, and “multi-morbidity”) were identified in children between 1 and 8 years of age, using latent class analyses. Multinomial logistic regression was applied to test associations between dietary exposure to mixtures and allergic clusters. Analyses were adjusted for confounding factors such as allergic family history and child’s feeding practices.[¤]RESULTS[|]Children with higher scores on a mixture composed mainly of furans, metals, dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were at higher risk of belonging to the “only asthma” cluster (OR[95%CI]= 2.07 [1.35; 3.18]). Children with higher scores on a mixture of polychlorinated biphenyls and brominated flame retardants were at higher risk of belonging to the “multiallergic” cluster (OR[95%CI]= 2.07 [1.04; 4.14]). Children with higher score on a mixture of pesticides and metals were at higher risk of belonging to the “Allergies without asthma” cluster (OR[95%CI]= 1.54 [1.03; 2.29]).[¤]CONCLUSIONS[|]The study highlighted associations between dietary exposure to some mixtures of chemicals in infancy and allergic or respiratory multimorbidity in childhood that need to be confirmed in other studies.[¤]