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Research Finds Allergic Children Exposed to Peanuts at Younger and Younger Ages Despite Recommendations To Avoid Until Age 3
The age at which children are exposed to peanuts and have an allergic response has dropped significantly over the last decade, despite recommendations that at-risk families avoid exposing children to peanuts during the first three years of life, according to research led by a Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC allergist/immunologist.
In a study of peanut-allergic patients between 2000 and 2006, the median age of first peanut exposure and reaction were 14 and 18 months, respectively. In a similar population of patients studied from 1995 to 1997, researchers found that the median age of first exposure and reaction were 22 and 24 months, respectively. Results of the study were published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
“The results of our study may suggest that AAP guidelines endorsing the delayed introduction of peanuts until age 3 for children with a strong family history of allergies are not being followed widely in the United States,” said Todd Green, MD, first author of the study and an allergist/immunologist at Children’s. “At the same time, the prevalence of peanut allergy among children has reportedly doubled nationwide over the last decade. This could be due both to a higher rate of peanut allergy and to more public awareness and recognition on the part of the medical community.”
Food allergies are on the rise and affect 6 percent to 8 percent of all children under the age of 4, as well as 4 percent of adults, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. They cause roughly 30,000 episodes of anaphylaxis and 100 to 200 deaths per year in the United States.
Learn more about Children’s Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy and Immunology.
