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Infants at risk for peanut allergy incur larger peanut skin prick test sizes

Benjamin Price

The size of the peanut skin prick test size increased over time in infants at risk for peanut allergy, according to an abstract presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology annual meeting.

“Current guidelines recommend early peanut introduction to all infants, with physician-supervised introduction for those with skin prick test of 3 mm to 8 mm. Many of these infants will have supervised introduction deferred to a subsequent visit and some never return for follow-up. It is currently unknown if and how peanut skin prick test results change over time in infants,” Morgan A. Amigo, medical student at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, and colleagues wrote.

Researchers retrospectively reviewed all infants who had peanut skin prick tests at two different time points during their rst 24 months of life. Those with a history of atopic dermatitis and/or any other food allergy were considered at risk for peanut allergy. Infants who had consumed peanut prior to either skin prick test were not included.

Amigo and colleagues found there was a signicant difference between the rst and second skin prick test among the 51 infants at risk for peanut allergy. The average increase was 1.6 mm (mean duration between skin prick tests, 5.8 months, P = .006).

“The results not only support the recommendations of early peanut introduction but also emphasize the importance of introducing it in a timely manner as delaying introduction may increase the likelihood of an infant having a peanut allergy,” Benjamin T. Prince, MD, MSCI, abstract co-author and assistant professor of pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital told Healio Primary Care Today.

“It is important to note that the majority of these high-risk infants will be able to tolerate peanut and early introduction can decrease their risk of developing peanut allergy going forward,” he added. – by Janel Miller

Reference:

Amigo MAA, et al. “Change in peanut skin prick testing over time in infants at risk for food allergy who continue to avoid peanut.” Presented at: American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting; Feb. 22-25, 2019; San Francisco.

Disclosures: Healio Primary Care Today was unable to determine the authors’ relevant financial disclosures prior to publication.