Prevalence of childhood food allergy higher than previously reported

Gupta RS. Pediatrics. 2011;doi:10.1542/peds.2011-0204.

Food allergy affects 8% of children aged younger than 18 years, or about 5.9 million children in the United States, according to a study published online.

The study team surveyed nearly 40,000 US households with children. Participants were asked to answer questions for a child in their household, including present or past food allergy, date of onset, method of diagnosis, and reaction history for each reported allergen. Detailed demographic items were also included.

The researchers, led by Ruchi S. Gupta, MD, MPH, who is assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a pediatrician at Children’s Memorial Hospital, said of the children who had food allergies, 38.7% had a history of severe reactions, and 30.4% had multiple food allergies. Children with food allergies were most commonly allergic to peanuts, milk and shellfish.

“Based on our data, about one in every 13 children has a food allergy. What’s more, nearly two out of every five affected children suffer from a severe food allergy,” Gupta said in a press release about the study. This rate is an increase from previous estimates, which put the rate of food allergies between 1% and 8%.

Gupta and colleagues reported that their next set of studies would focus on understanding observed geographical, racial and diagnostic trends.

“By understanding why some children are affected by food allergy while others are not, we can begin to better focus our efforts on finding a cure,” they wrote.

Disclosure: The Food Allergy Initiative, a non-profit founded in 1998 by concerned parents and grandparents and the largest provider of funding for food allergy research, helped fund the study. The researchers reported no relevant financial conflicts of interest.

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