A retrospective study of patients at the Mercy Children's hospital in Toledo, Ohio, found that a high percentage of children suffered from both asthma and peanut allergies. The study, as documented in a press release from the American Thoracic Society, also discovered that more than half of the families of children who tested positive for peanut sensitivity were unaware of the child's allergy.
Study leader Dr. Robert Cohn and his team reviewed the records of 1,517 asthma patients from the hospital's pediatric pulmonary clinic. 665 of the patients had been tested for peanut allergies, and 148 of them, or 22.3 percent, had tested positive. Out of these 148 cases, 53 percent of the kids and their parents had not been aware of the patient's sensitivity to peanuts.
"Many of the respiratory symptoms of peanut allergy can mirror those of an asthma attack, and vice versa," Cohn explains. For this reason, it's easy for families to attribute symptoms of an unknown allergy to the child's asthma, and not knowing about the allergy can present additional health risks.
Cohn stresses the need for more research on this topic. Certain asthma medications are not ideal for patients with peanut allergies, and a coexisting peanut allergy can increase the potential severity of asthma attacks.
The Guardian quotes Dr. Samantha Walker of Asthma UK as saying that food allergy tests can be unreliable, but she agrees that children with both conditions need to be "monitored carefully."
According to Cohn, children with asthma should take a peanut allergy blood test for the sake of caution, even if no one in the family suspects an allergy.
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