Paediatricians: Brush up on Food Allergies

Food allergies are a common paediatric problem, affecting up to 5 percent of U.S. children and causing some 30,000 life-threatening allergic reactions each year. But research by investigators at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and Franklin Square Hospital Center in Baltimore shows that many pediatricians have knowledge gaps when it comes to diagnosing and managing food-induced anaphylactic shock.

The study is being presented at the annual Paediatric Academic Societies meeting in San Francisco, April 29-May 2.The study, co-authored by Elizabeth Matsui, M.D., M.H.S., assistant professor of paediatrics at the Children's Center, used a survey describing a scenario of a child going into anaphylactic shock after eating peanuts. Respondents - a national sample of paediatricians - were asked to describe what measures they would take to assess and treat the child. Overall, 70 percent of the 468 paediatricians who completed the survey agreed that the clinical scenario was consistent with anaphylaxis, and 72 percent chose to administer epinephrine. However, slightly more than half (56 percent) agreed with both the diagnosis (anaphylaxis) and the correct treatment (epinephrine). About 70 percent of the paediatricians would have failed to observe the patient long enough to rule out a second attack (biphasic reaction), which may occur within hours of the initial anaphylaxis. Paediatricians who provided care for children with food allergies were more likely to correctly assess both diagnosis and treatment than paediatricians who did not care for such patients."These findings show that there is a need to provide residents with direct experience caring for patients with food allergy, particularly in light of the rising prevalence of food allergy", Matsui says.(Source: Johns Hopkins Children's Center: May 2006.)