More than one-third of children with food allergy report bullying

Key takeaways:

• Food allergy-related bullying is common among children aged 5 to 17 years.
• It is important for adults to recognize and support children at increased risk for food allergy-related bullying.

WASHINGTON — Food allergy-related bullying is common, with particular subgroups of children possibly at higher risk, according to study results presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting.

“It is important for allergists, pediatricians, parents and school personnel to recognize children at increased risk for food allergy-related bullying and offer appropriate education, guidance and support,” Ianthe R.M. Schepel, BMBCh, MPhil, MS, junior resident at Boston Children’s Hospital, and colleagues wrote.

Schepel and colleagues analyzed self-administered electronic survey data collected from a cross-sectional convenience sample of 295 children aged 5 to 17 years (mean age, 9.5 years; 82.5% white) with food allergy, as well as their parents.

Researchers assessed bullying status by parent or child report of ever being bullied due to food allergy. They compared children who experienced food allergy-related bullying vs. those who had not based on demographics, parent-reported comorbid atopic and mental health conditions and history of food allergy reactions using chi-squared tests for categorical variables and analysis of variance for continuous variables.

Of all the children, 108 (36.6%) reported experiencing food allergy-related bullying.

Asthma (OR = 1.9; 95% CI, 1.16-3.02), eczema (OR = 1.7; 95% CI, 1.03-2.73) and anxiety (OR = 4.7; 95% CI, 2.44-9.06) were significantly associated with increased risk for food allergy-related bullying.

History of food allergy reactions with respiratory, cardiac or neurologic symptoms also were significantly associated with increased risk for food allergy-related bullying, results showed.

Other food allergy reaction characteristics that were significantly associated with increased risk for food allergy-related bullying included experiencing a food allergy reaction at school or daycare, going to the ED for food allergy reaction and being hospitalized overnight for food allergy reaction.

Additionally, an increased number of lifetime food allergy reactions treated with epinephrine elevated the risk for food allergy-related bullying (P = .01).

Schepel and colleagues noted that “racial and ethnic disparities in food allergy-related bullying may exist but could not be assessed due to the homogeneous sample.”