Allergy Asthma Respir Dis.  2020 Apr;8(2):80-88. 10.4168/aard.2020.8.2.80.

Causes of food allergy according to age and severity: A recent 10-year retrospective study from a single tertiary hospital

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea
  • 2Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea
  • 3Clinical Trial Center, Ajou University Hospital, Suwon, Korea

Abstract

Purpose
Recent studies of food allergy (FA) at all ages are scanty in Korea. We performed this study to better understand severity-related and age-stratified causes of FA from infants to older adults in a single tertiary hospital in Korea.
Methods
A retrospective medical record review was performed on patients of all ages diagnosed with immediate-type FA between March 2008 and February 2018 in Ajou University Hospital.
Results
A total of 4,680 cases of FA among 2,733 patients were reported. The distribution of onset ages of the first FA symptom was as follows: 45.3% below 2 years, 16.2% at 2–6 years, 5.5% at 7–12 years, 4.0% at 13–18 years, 16.9% at 19–40 years, 10.4% at 41–65 years, and 1.8% above 65 years of age. The major 10 causative foods were hen’s eggs (17.2%), cow’s milk (16.7%), wheat (8.6%), crustaceans (8.5%), fish (4.6%), walnuts (4.4%), pork (3.2%), peanuts (3.2%), shellfish (3.0%), and peach (2.2%). The culprits ranked from the 11th to the 20th were as follows: soybean, apple, chicken, buckwheat, beef, kiwi, almonds, perilla seeds, tomato, and squid. The top 3 causative foods in children were hen’s eggs, cow’s milk, and wheat, while those in adults were crustaceans, wheat, and fish. Food-induced anaphylaxis was reported in 29.2% of all cases, with cow’s milk, hen’s eggs, wheat, crustaceans, fish, walnuts, pork, shellfish, buckwheat, and peanuts being the major 10 causes.
Conclusion
This study could provide a better understanding of the detailed ranks of the causes of FA according to severity and age in Korea.

Keyword

Food allergy; Anaphylaxis; Korea; All age
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