Race, income associated with outgrowing food allergies
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Key takeaways:
- 36.27% of white children, 22.22% of Black children and 17.57% of Hispanic children outgrew a food allergy.
- Allergic rhinitis was associated with outgrowing food allergy, but eczema was not.
WASHINGTON — Children reporting white race, higher household income and allergic rhinitis were more likely to outgrow food allergy, according to a poster presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting.
“Socioeconomic conditions have a detrimental role on food allergy-related outcomes,” Arabelle Abellard, MD, MSc, PGY5 allergy and immunology physician fellow at Rush University Medical Center, said during her presentation.
“However, little is known about whether socioeconomic factors play any role in the development of clinical tolerance in food allergy,” she continued.
The cohort included 752 children (61.44% boys; 54.26% non-Hispanic white, 35.9% non-Hispanic Black, 9.84% Hispanic) aged 12 years and younger diagnosed with an IgE-mediated food allergy, with 221 (29.4%) who outgrew at least one food allergy.
With 29% of boys and 30% of girls in the full cohort outgrowing a food allergy, the researchers said that there was no statistically significant difference in outgrowing food allergy based on sex.
However, 36.27% of the white children, 22.22% of the Black children and 17.57% of the Hispanic children in the full cohort outgrew at least one food allergy (P < .001). This subgroup also was 66.97% white, 27.15% Black and 5.88% Hispanic.
“Parents of Black and Hispanic children were less likely to report development of food tolerance compared to white children,” Abellard said.
These findings indicate a significant association between race and ethnicity and outgrowing at least one food allergy, the researchers said, with a potential higher food allergy burden for Black and Hispanic children compared with white children.
The association between household income and outgrowing food allergy also was significant, the researchers said, as 59.28% of the children who outgrew a food allergy and 48.67% of those who did not were from families with annual incomes surpassing $100,000 (P < .001).
These strong associations between race, socioeconomic status and clinical tolerance indicate that social determinants of health may be a factor, the researchers said.
Outgrowing food allergy also was associated with allergic rhinitis with no other comorbid conditions (P = .0021), the researchers said, but not with asthma or eczema.
“Early onset or late onset eczema was not associated with the development of food tolerance,” Abellard said.
Finally, there were no associations between birth delivery methods or use of antibiotics during pregnancy or at birth and outgrowing food allergy, nor were there any statistically significant differences in the numbers of food allergies reported by the children who did and did not outgrow food allergies.
“Logistic regression analysis will be performed to better capture factors associated with the development of tolerance in children with food allergies,” Abellard said.
Abellard also called an understanding of the links between socioeconomic factors, race, ethnicity and food allergy outcomes crucial in informing efforts and in implementing solutions for addressing disparities in food allergy and in developing clinical tolerance.
“Education, research and advocacy can play an important role in closing the gap,” Abellard said. “Additional investigations are needed to understand how socioeconomic conditions and comorbidities can place children at risk of sustained food allergy.”