Abstract
Abstract Coexistent food allergy and asthma is a significant burden in the pediatric population, and the incidences of both have increased dramatically over the past two decades. Cow milk protein allergy is the most common allergy in children with prevalence between 1.8% and 7.5% during the first year of life. The variability between studies may be attributable to different methods used for diagnosis, the different ages of the populations studied or to geographical factors. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence and clinical impact of cow milk protein allergy in Libyan asthmatic children. This was a cross sectional study done between December 2021 and December 2022 at Tripoli children hospital. The study included 200 asthmatic children who regularly attending the childhood asthma clinic. Detailed questionnaire was used, and data were analyzed using SPSS and presented as descriptive statistics. Out of 200 asthmatic children included, 10% of them had cow milk protein allergy, their mean age was 2.7± 2.6years, and about 80% of cases were below 5 years of age (P < 0.05). Furthermore, our findings exhibited significant association between family history of atopy and cow milk protein allergy (P < 0.05). About 45% of asthmatic cases were affected by cow milk protein allergy, of which 5% of them had progressive course. Future studies should aim to include larger samples of cow milk protein allergy cases, which allow sufficient statistical power to uncover the epidemiology of this allergy. Keywords. Asthmatic, Cow Milk, Allergy, Libyan.