Only one-third of pediatricians follow peanut allergy protocol, survey says. Here’s why
Peanut allergies are the most common type of food allergy affecting children in the U.S., yet a new survey found that fewer than one-third of practicing pediatricians are fully adhering to national guidelines on peanut allergy prevention.
The findings, published last week in the journal JAMA Network Open, suggest parents aren’t receiving the information or training they need to protect their children from potentially deadly peanut allergy reactions.
“Barriers to implementation are important to address since pediatricians, beginning with the 4-6 month well-child visits, can have a vital role in the reduction of peanut allergy,” lead author Dr. Ruchi Gupta, pediatrician and food allergy researcher at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, said in a news release. “We need further research on forms of training and types of practice aids that are necessary to increase guideline implementation.”
Twenty years ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics said peanuts should not be given to children until they are 3 years old, but in 2017, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases updated the guidelines.
Now, peanut-containing foods should be introduced to an infant’s diet between 4 and 6 months in an effort to prevent an allergy to them, according to the study.
But of the 1,781 U.S.-based pediatricians surveyed via email between June and December of 2018, about 64% reported “partial implementation” of the new guidelines, while 30% said they were enforcing them in full, the study said.
Meanwhile, 93% of the participating pediatricians said they were aware of the updated national guidelines.
Some of the reasons the doctors reported that hinder them from following the recommendations include parental concerns about allergic reactions, uncertainty about the newness of the guidelines and how to correctly apply them, lack of clinic time and conducting in-office supervised feedings.
The survey also revealed that 70% of pediatricians said they needed more guideline training, and they reported needing educational handouts for families on peanut introduction to infants, the study said.
In the U.S., childhood peanut or tree nut allergy has tripled between 1997 and 2008, according to FARE, the world’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to food allergy awareness.
Peanut allergy affects about 1 million children in the U.S., and only 1 out of 5 of these children will outgrow their allergy, the Food and Drug Administration said.
In January, the group approved the first drug in pill form for treatment of peanut allergy in children between 4 and 17 years old. It can help mitigate reactions such as anaphylaxis.
