TOPLINE

An online survey of parents of 151 Greek preschool children found that more than half reported that their child had experienced a food allergic reaction, most often attributing it to cow's milk and dairy products associated with it, followed by chicken eggs. The findings were based on parental reports and not confirmed by clinical assessment.

METHODOLOGY

• Researchers conducted a cross-sectional online survey to describe parent-reported food allergic reactions in Greek preschool children and examine suspected triggers, reported symptoms, and their associations with demographic and family factors.
• The research sample included 151 children aged 3-6.5 years (47% boys) from multiple regions in Greece.
• Parents or legal guardians completed the questionnaire anonymously; it included questions on the history of food-related reactions, the foods implicated, the symptoms observed, asthma diagnoses, anaphylactic episodes requiring treatment with adrenaline, and allergies in first-degree relatives. 
• Participation was voluntary, and recruitment was conducted through social media, parenting forums, and personal contacts.

TAKEAWAY

• A majority of parents surveyed (57.0%; 86 of 151) reported that their child had a food-related allergic reaction. Among these 86 children, the most common symptom was skin rash, eczema, or itching (76.7%), followed by diarrhea or vomiting (32.6%).
• Among the 86 children with reported reactions, parents most often suspected cow's milk and dairy products associated with it (46.5%) as triggers, followed by chicken eggs (27.9%), fish (16.3%), and peanuts (12.8%).
• Neither gender nor age was significantly associated with the occurrence of food-related allergic reactions or asthma diagnoses; gender was also not significantly associated with anaphylaxis requiring treatment with adrenaline.

IN PRACTICE

"The present study provides valuable information regarding parent-reported food allergic reactions among preschool children in Greece. Although food-related allergic reactions were frequently reported by participating parents, these findings should be interpreted with caution because they were based on parental reports obtained through an anonymous online questionnaire and were not clinically confirmed," the authors wrote.

SOURCE

Theonymfi Tavladaki, with the General Hospital – Health Center of Sitia, Sitia, Greece, was the corresponding author of the study, which was published online on October 9 in Allergies.

LIMITATIONS

Parents were recruited through convenience sampling on social media; therefore, the study group may not have represented all Greek preschool children. The sample size was small. In addition, all information on reactions and suspected foods was obtained from parents and was not clinically confirmed; therefore, the findings did not show how common true food allergy was.

DISCLOSURES

The study received no external funding. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.