New research by Weill Cornell researchers reported in Allergy and Asthma Proceedings shows that emergency department visits because of reactions to food are stable among children - and actually decreasing among adults.
From 2001-2009, there were approximately 1.9 million emergency department visits for food allergies. While that number is higher than previously published reports, the number of annual visits did not increase over time. There were 92,000 visits to ERs by kids in 2009, up from 77,000 visits in 2001, but this was not a statistically significant change. Visits by adults decreased significantly, from 147,000 to 97,000. The results were reported in September.
"We believe that this could reflect the success of efforts focused on secondary prevention, such as allergen avoidance," said Dr. Sunday Clark, assistant professor of epidemiology in medicine and assistant professor of public health at Weill Cornell Medical College. It suggests that despite continued rises in prevalence, that it's possible to decrease the impact of food allergy on those with the condition and their families."
In the study, Dr. Clark and colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital used data from two multicenter studies--one of which included 21 North American medical centers--to identify the number of patients who entered emergency departments for acute, food-related allergic reactions as well as those who had food-induced anaphylaxis. They then multiplied these proportions with visit counts from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), a nationally representative sample of patients' use of ambulatory care, including emergency departments, to estimate the overall number of food allergy-related emergency department visits across the country.
The authors concluded that while the "the societal burden of emergency department visits for food allergy is quite large," the findings suggest that "efforts to educate both patients and clinicians on the appropriate management of food allergy are having beneficial effects."