Understanding Predictors For Severe Allergies In Pediatric Food Allergy Natural History Registry

Despite affecting up to 8% of children nationwide, the natural history of food allergy is not well understood. To learn more about the course of food allergy, we developed a prospective pediatric food allergy registry. Here we investigated what factors best predict severe peanut and tree nuts allergies. We recruited families with children with a food allergy from allergy clinics across Chicago. Data from children’s medical records and caregiver surveys was analyzed. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relationship between severe allergies and predicting factors. Severity was defined as history of reactions that involve at least two body systems. Children of respondents (N=158) were mostly male (65.2%), white (76.6%), with an average age of 6.4 years. About 34% children were currently allergic to five or more foods. Peanut (67.1%) and tree nuts (65.2%) were the most prevalent allergens. Among 103 children with peanut allergy, 34.0% had severe reactions, and age was a statistically significant predictor of severity (OR=1.15, p=0.0189). Among 98 children with tree nuts allergy, 30.0% had severe reactions, and number of current allergies (OR=0.65, p =0.02), child’s asthma history (OR=3.58, p=0.012), father’s food allergy status (OR=5.43, p=0.016), and father’s eczema status (OR=4.088, p=0.04) were found to be statistically significant predictors. For peanut allergy, increase in age increased the odds of severity. History of asthma and father’s history of food allergy or eczema increased the patient’s odds of severe tree nuts allergy while each additional food allergy decreased the patient’s odds of severe tree nuts allergy.