More Young Kids Allergic to Milk Than Peanuts, but Less Likely to Carry Epinephrine

By Rob Goodier

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Milk allergies in young children may require more attention, new research suggests.

More children younger than 5 are allergic to milk than to peanuts, but only 26% of milk-allergic children have a prescription for an epinephrine injector, compared to 73% of peanut-allergic children.

That's according to an epidemiological study presented November 16 at the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI) annual conference in Seattle, Washington.

"Given that epinephrine is the only FDA-approved first-line therapy for a severe food allergic reaction, this suggests that there remains room for improvement at the provider-level regarding the implementation of national guidelines regarding the clinical management of cow's milk allergy," Dr. Ruchi Gupta of Lurie Children's at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Illinois, told Reuters Health by email.

Dr. Gupta and colleagues analyzed data from a randomized, cross-sectional survey of more than 53,000 parents from a representative sample of U.S. households with children.

They found 1.9 percent of children had a "convincing" milk allergy, and 53% of infants with food allergies had a milk allergy.

Milk allergy may be just as dangerous as peanut allergy, but kids are less likely to be prepared, the survey suggests.

"One thing that we found to be notable was that children with milk allergy had comparable rates of food allergy-related emergency department visits when compared to children with peanut allergy. For example, 26% of milk-allergic children had been treated in the ED during the past year for their allergy compared to 23% of children with peanut allergy," Dr. Gupta said.

A quarter of children with milk allergy went to an emergency department in the year the researchers evaluated, but fewer than half of the children had an official diagnosis by a physician, according to the research.

"I believe this study really speaks to education of the pediatricians, ER doctors, NPs and family doctors who may be the first line when a child presents with milk allergy. It's important for them to know how common milk allergy is and how to identify it, or know at least to refer to a board-certified allergist," said Dr. Neeta Ogden, an allergist and immunologist in Edison, New Jersey, and an ACAAI spokesperson, who was not involved in the research.

"As an allergist, I find it very concerning that the majority of infants with milk allergy do not have an EpiPen which again is to me the take-away from this article - first-line physicians and parents don't realize the prevalence of this allergy, how to identify it and how it should be treated," she told Reuters Health by email.

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2DFIz37

ACAAI 2018.

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