3.4% prevalence of food allergy in urban minority children

The most common food allergies in this study were:

- peanut (1.6%)
- shellfish (1.1%)
- tree nuts (0.8%)

Anaphylaxis was most frequently documented for:

- peanut (15.1%)
- fish (12.5%)
- milk (11.1%)



8 foods cause 90% of food allergies (click to enlarge the image). The figure above shows the likelihood of a negative oral food challenge is shown in relation to the respective values of skin prick test (SPT) and serum IgE (sIgE).

Among food-allergic children, asthma (50%), atopic dermatitis (52%), and allergic rhinitis (49%) were common.

Fewer than 50% had testing by an allergy specialist. Most had epinephrine autoinjectors prescribed but were not prescribed food allergy action plans.

The Food Allergy Action Plan by FARE is available here (adapted by Dr. Dimov):



The generic version is available from the FARE website.

References:

The prevalence and characteristics of food allergy in urban minority children. Taylor-Black S, Wang J. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2012 Dec;109(6):431-7. doi: 10.1016/j.anai.2012.09.012. Epub 2012 Oct 13.