First-time mothers report concern for future food allergy in offspring

Key takeaways:

• Most pregnant women surveyed reported concerns about food allergy in their offspring.
• Concerns about allergies in offspring appeared highest in pregnant women with a personal or household allergy.

SAN DIEGO — Household composition and family history influenced concerns and knowledge about pediatric food allergy among expectant mothers, according to a presentation here.

The results, presented at the 2025 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology/World Allergy Organization Joint Congress, could support inclusion of prenatal anticipatory guidance for food allergy prevention and management, according to Stephanie Leeds, MD, FAAAAI, MHS, assistant professor in the department of pediatric allergy and immunology at Yale School of Medicine, and colleagues.

Researchers theorize that past guidelines to delay food allergen introduction to infants may have contributed to the rise in childhood allergies faced today, with over 8% of U.S. children having food allergies. Considering this, studies that investigate the timing, dose and form of early food exposure are crucial, Leeds and colleagues wrote.

“Julie Flom, MD, MPH, and I developed a food allergy prevention clinic at Yale and before finalizing specifics of our approach and services, we wanted to have a better understanding of knowledge and needs of pregnant women who may be interested in this clinic,” Leeds told Healio.

This inspired the researchers to examine pregnant women’s perspectives on food allergy in their children.

A cohort of pregnant women receiving care at Yale University completed a 16-question survey that inquired about risk factors and diagnostic/management tools for pediatric food allergy, as well as demographic information including personal and family allergy history.

Researchers used chi-square tests to analyze the data.

Results showed that 70.6% of respondents reported concerns about food allergies in their children, with pregnant women with a personal or household food allergy diagnosis having experienced greater concern vs. those without personal or household allergy (50% vs 23.9%; P = .002).

In addition, compared with white women with a family history of food allergy, Black women reported greater concern for food allergies in their children (81.8% vs. 35.1%; P = .019).

Regarding prevention and management of food allergy, researchers found that pregnant women with other children at home believed in early introduction of top allergens (70% vs. 53%; P = .032). Pregnant women with other children at home also reported more knowledge about existing food allergy testing (95.7% vs. 84.3%; P = .022) and the process of introducing new foods to children after nonallergic reactions (48.6% vs. 28.9%; P = .013).

“It was interesting to see that pregnant women without other children at home were most interested in counseling around food allergy prevention, and those with other children at home were more likely to have knowledge and trust in the process of early food exposure for the prevention of food allergy,” Leeds said. “It gives us the sense that approach and counseling perhaps should be individualized based on parent experience, to some degree. Pregnant women are interested in learning about food allergy prevention for their future infants, but it may need to be a proactive discussion from health care providers, particularly for first time parents. We are looking at implementation of a prevention program in relation to long-term allergy outcomes, as our clinic is now up and running.”

For more information:

Stephanie Leeds, MD, FAAAAI, MHS, can be reached at stephanie.leeds@yale.edu.