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Hospitalization from food-related anaphylaxis increased significantly from 2005

Food-related anaphylaxis has increased significantly in all age groups over the last 10 years, according to study results.

The results are an extension of studies from across the U.K., the U.S. and Australia that reported increased childhood food allergy and anaphylaxis prevalence in the 15 years following 1990.

Raymond J. Mullins

“Although our data provide indirect surrogate evidence that [food allergy] and anaphylaxis have continued to increase over the last decade, our conclusions are also supported by similar findings in community-based studies in Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.,” Raymond J. Mullins, MBBS, PhD, a clinical senior lecturer in the John James Medical Centre at the Australian National University, and colleagues wrote.

Mullins and colleagues examined anaphylaxis-related hospital admissions in Australia between 2005-2006 and 2011-2012 and compared the findings with results from 1998-1999 and 2004-2005 to determine whether food related-anaphylaxis prevalence has increased over the last several years.

The researchers noted a 1.5-fold increase in the overall population’s food-related anaphylaxis hospital admission rates per 100,000 people from 2005-2006 (4.5) to 2011-2012 (8.2).

The highest rates occurred in children aged 0 to 4 years (21.7 in 2005-2006 and 30.3 in 2011-2012).

However, the greatest proportionate increase occurred in children aged 5 to 14 years (5.8 in 2005-2006 and 12.1 in 2011-2012).

Mullins and colleagues emphasized the future challenges health care systems will face in treating food allergies.

“The challenges for health care systems will be how best to develop evidence-based policies to reduce the risk of [food allergy] development, to care for younger children presenting with new cases of [food allergy or food allergy-related] anaphylaxis, and to manage the shifting burden to older teenagers and young adults, in whom persistent [food allergy] has more likely become a chronic morbidity and in whom the relative risk for fatal anaphylaxis is at its highest compared with other age groups,” the researchers wrote. – by Ryan McDonald

Disclosure: Mullins reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.