Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences in adolescent food allergy

Racial disparities have been identified in the prevalence of food specific IgE2 and in the clinical practice of allergy-related health care.3 To evaluate socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in food allergy, we investigated associations of race/ethnicity and SES factors during pregnancy with both food specific IgE and allergic-type symptoms to common food allergens (milk, egg, peanut, soy, and wheat) in adolescents in a large Boston-area cohort. While the Learning Early About Peanut (LEAP) randomized trial demonstrated a reduced risk of developing a peanut allergy in high-risk infants if peanuts are introduced at an early age,5 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data have shown that early childhood nut consumption varies by race and SES. Together with evidence of racial disparities in diagnosis and treatment of food allergies,2,3,7 our findings indicate a need to educate both the scientific and lay community about demographic risk factors for food allergy in adolescents.Online Repository Methods Study design and subjects Participants were from Project Viva, a prospective prebirth cohort study that recruited women during early pregnancy from Atrius Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, a multispecialty group practice in Eastern Massachusetts. The institutional review boards of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care approved this study.Assessment of child race/ethnicity and maternal SES during pregnancy We determined the race/ethnicity of the adolescent by asking the mother to choose 1 or more racial/ethnic groups for her child.