{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,16]],"date-time":"2026-09-16T05:04:16Z","timestamp":1789535056514,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,16]],"date-time":"2026-09-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789516800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Food-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) have drawn increasing attention in pediatric food intolerance study, yet population-based data and their associations with clinical symptoms remain limited. This retrospective study included 100 children (56 males, 44 females; age groups: &amp;lt;5 years, n=20; 5-9 years, n=50; \u226510 years, n=30) from Zhuhai, China. Serum specific IgG against 14 common foods were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and classified as negative (&amp;lt;50 U\/mL), mild (50-100 U\/mL), moderate (100-200 U\/mL), or severe (\u2265200 U\/mL). Spearman correlation and Apriori association rule analysis (minimum support 6%, minimum confidence 50%, lift &amp;gt;1.5) were applied. The three most prevalent food-specific IgG positivities were egg (89.0%), milk (73.0%), and wheat (48.0%). Total positivity rate of each food correlated positively with its severe proportion (r=0.8733, P&amp;lt;0.001). No significant differences between sex were found in positivity rates, but the correlation patterns differed. In boys, both moderate and severe proportions correlated with positivity rates, while in girls, only the severe proportion did. Age showed no significant effect on positivity rates, though food-specific IgG response intensity trend to decrease with age. The four most frequent clinical symptoms were cough-related (25 cases), nasal diseases (20 cases), tic disorder\/chronic tic disorders (19 cases), and deficiency-excess complex pattern (9 cases). Association rule mining identified four strong rules; the strongest was deficiency-excess complex pattern with egg and milk co-positivity (support 7.0%, confidence 77.8%, lift 6.09). These findings suggest that egg, milk, and wheat are the predominant  IgG\u2011positive food items in this cohort. The positive correlation between positivity rate and severe proportion, along with the strong association between deficiency-excess complex pattern and egg-milk co-positivity, may inform dietary interventions in children with food intolerance, though prospective validation is warranted.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2026.1940230","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,16]],"date-time":"2026-09-16T04:30:28Z","timestamp":1789533028000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Association rule analysis of food-specific IgG and clinical symptoms in pediatric patients"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Zidong","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"YunKang School of Medicine and Health, Nanfang College Guangzhou","place":["Guangzhou, Guangdong, China"]},{"name":"Department of Clinical Laboratory, Zhuhai Hospital of Traditional Chinese 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