Socioeconomics may influence differences in food allergy outcomes among Asian children
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Key takeaways:
- Asian American children had less anaphylaxis and significantly more private insurance and co-morbid atopic dermatitis.
- Results suggest socioeconomic conditions contribute to food allergy outcomes.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Asian American children displayed unique food allergy outcomes in a study comparing them with children of other races, possibly due to socioeconomic conditions, according to a poster presented here.
“This is the biggest Asian American cohort that has been reported so far,” Keerthi Bansal, MD, allergy and immunology fellow at Rush University Medical Center, told Healio. “It is important to study the racial/ethnic differences among different groups to help understand health disparities and explore factors that are contributing to some of these outcomes.”
The retrospective cohort study, presented on a poster at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting, examined 433 children aged younger than 12 years seen at Rush University Medical Center. Asian Americans made up a quarter of these children, with the remainder being white (43%), African American (20%) and Hispanic (12%).
Co-morbid atopic dermatitis was significantly higher among Asian American children at a rate of 87%, whereas the other three groups had rates between 75% and 78%. But at 3%, Asian American children had by far the lowest frequency of food allergy-related anaphylaxis — which Bansal described as “surprising” — compared with 31% in African American, 21% in Hispanic and 18% in white children.
Asian American (76%) and white (68%) children each had elevated rates of private insurance compared with the African American (38%) and Hispanic (41%) children.
The Asian American children had asthma rates comparable with other races as well as a similar food allergen profile. These children were most commonly allergic to peanut (47%), egg (47%), tree nuts (34%) and cow’s milk (14%).
The results suggest Asian American children “have different socioeconomic conditions that may contribute to their food allergy outcomes,” Bansal and colleagues wrote.