TOPLINE

Race and parental health literacy affected the likelihood of outgrowing food allergies in children, with Black or Hispanic children showing the lowest odds of resolution.

METHODOLOGY

• Researchers surveyed a large pediatric population in the US to identify factors associated with the resolution of food allergies.
• A total of 1359 children younger than 12 years (58% boys) with at least one active immunoglobulin E-mediated food allergy were enrolled.
• Caregiver survey responses and electronic health records were used to collect data on demographic and clinical characteristics, which were then compared between children with reported food allergy resolution and those without reported resolution.
• Analyses were conducted separately for children with a documented allergic reaction history to the trigger food and those with sensitization alone to distinguish a confirmed food allergy from sensitization without a reaction.

TAKEAWAY

• Among children with a documented reaction history, Black children (odds ratio [OR], 0.25; 95% CI, 0.13-0.45) and Hispanic children (OR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.12-0.61) were less likely than White children to outgrow a food allergy.
• In the same group, multiple food allergies (OR, 4.86) and higher parental health literacy (OR, 1.20) were associated with greater odds of resolution, whereas vaginal delivery was associated with lower odds of resolution (OR, 0.61).
• Among children without a documented reaction history, Black children had lower odds of resolution than White children (OR, 0.50). In addition, children from households with annual incomes of $100,000-$199,000 or greater than $199,000 had higher odds of resolution than those from households earning less than $100,000.
• Among children with reaction to the allergen, resolution was most common for baked milk, soy, wheat, and baked egg and least common for shellfish and peanuts.

IN PRACTICE

“We found consistent associations between lower socioeconomic conditions and a lower likelihood of FA [food allergy] resolution for different FA across multiple indicators, including lower income, higher ADI [area deprivation index], limited health literacy, and racial disparities affecting historically marginalized populations,” the researchers reported.

SOURCE

Mahboobeh Mahdavinia, MD, PhD, with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, was the corresponding author of the study, which was published online on August 12 in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

LIMITATIONS

Socioeconomic and health literacy measures may not reflect conditions at the time of diagnosis or resolution as the analysis used data collected at a single timepoint. Food allergy resolution was not confirmed through a standardized oral food challenge at all sites. Parent-reported resolution was comprehensively validated against medical records at only one study site.

DISCLOSURES

FORWARD, the source of the study data, was supported by the National Institutes of Health. The authors reported 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.