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College students with food allergies lack campus-wide support
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Interviews with representatives from two dozen colleges showed most were not prepared to handle students with food allergies, according to study findings presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Scientific Meeting.
“Our study found that while many colleges offer support for students with food allergy in the dining room, the same support doesn’t carry over to organized sports, dormitories or social events,” Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, associate professor, pediatrics and medicine, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. said in a press release. “That leaves students feeling vulnerable and scrambling to inform all the various departments of their needs.”
Gupta and colleagues interviewed stakeholders representing students from 24 colleges to describe the students’ daily social engagements, learning opportunities, as well as where they lived and ate.
According to researchers, “emerging” themes included the ability of a student’s social network to react appropriately to food-allergy emergencies, current awareness levels of the signs, symptoms and likelihood of death associated with food allergies, how important it was for the student’s social networks ability to be able to dispense epinephrine and a lack of epinephrine autoinjector storage and availability.
Other recurring topics included a continuing dependence on caregivers, experiencing higher caution levels when choosing foods and a need to clearly define responsibilities and roles among the people the student engages.
“Understanding the unique barriers college students with [food allergies] confront has the potential to inform strategies to effectively support this population,” Gupta and colleagues wrote. “Future directions include testing stakeholder-informed interventions to increase readiness and preparedness of college campuses.”
The study also found students with food allergies are willing to work with school officials to address many of their concerns, and that these students’ peers stress levels would decrease with increased epinephrine availability and training by their peers, according to the press release. – by Janel Miller
Reference: Gupta R, et al. Leaving the nest: Improving food allergy management on college campuses. Presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting; Nov. 10-14; San Francisco.
Disclosure: Healio Family Medicine was unable to confirm the authors’ relevant financial disclosures prior to publication.
Perspective
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Neeta Ogden, MD
Fatal food-induced anaphylaxis is most common among adolescents and young adults. This significant study identified that food allergy education and support needs to be improved in the college setting. While dining halls tend to support food allergic students, this support and vigilance doesn’t carry over into other dimensions of student life such as sports, dormitories or social events.
Specifically at issue is the transition to independence among children with food allergies and lack of understanding of food allergies and epinephrine use among peers and the greater college community. With caregivers no longer a constant presence, many college students may not always carry their epinephrine with them, or know how to advocate for themselves if a food reaction is occurring. The latter can often stem from social pressure and embarrassment.
Allergists should become involved in transitioning food allergic children to greater independence in self-management of food allergy around age 12 or 13 years. Student self-management techniques include always carrying epinephrine, advocating for themselves with food handlers or in social settings involving food, informing as many people as possible in their social and academic orbit about their food allergy, and how to recognize an allergic reaction and when to use an epinephrine. In addition, recognizing and discussing the embarrassment that food allergic students may feel and how to overcome this to ensure safety is critical.
Colleges also need to take steps create campus-wide awareness and understanding about food allergies, recognizing the symptoms of a reaction and when, how and why to use epinephrine so as to provide a safe and positive environment for all food allergic students.
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