Official Food Allergy Treatment Guidelines Released

A collaborative, government-led effort to guide and standardize diagnosis, treatment and management of food allergies has resulted in the release of an official set of recommendations for physicians.

The guidelines are being published online this week by the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI), and available online at http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/foodallergy/clinical/Pages/default.aspx . They were developed by the National Institutes of Health and leading researchers and clinicians, professional and patient advocacy organizations, and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, among others.

Food allergies are among the most common medical conditions, believed to affect three out of 100 Americans, and the number of affected people has been steadily rising in the last 20 years for reasons not well understood, scientists say.

“Paradoxical as it may be, up until now we have lacked uniform guidelines based on hard scientific evidence about how to diagnose and treat these very common conditions that affect the lives of millions of people,” said Robert Wood, M.D., one of the six lead authors on the guidelines and director of the Division of Allergy & Immunology at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

The guidelines, available at http://www.jacionline.org/, are designed for use by specialists, primacy-care physicians and other healthcare staff. They consolidate the latest available data into straightforward and consistent protocols for diagnosis and treatment.

“Because the guidelines will give physicians a uniform and consistent pool of information on the latest and most effective diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, patients are more likely to get the most-up-to-date care regardless of where they seek care,” Wood says.

Some topics covered in the guidelines include:

Clear-cut definitions of food allergy and food intolerance, two commonly confused, but completely different conditions

What tests should be used for the proper diagnosis of a food allergy, including a discussion on skin-prick and blood testing vs. gold-standard oral food challenges

Management of life-threatening and non-life-threatening allergic reactions

Advice on management of life-threatening reactions (anaphylaxis) for patients and physicians, including an anaphylaxis emergency action plan

Development and natural course of food allergies by type of allergy and age

Related Information:
Guidelines
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Flu Vaccines Safe for Most Allergic Children
News Tips from the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Academy Of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
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Drinking Milk to Ease Milk Allergy?
Dr. Wood Profile
Founded in 1912 as the children's hospital of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the Johns Hopkins Children's Center offers one of the most comprehensive pediatric medical programs in the country, with more than 92,000 patient visits and nearly 9,000 admissions each year. Hopkins Children’s is consistently ranked among the top children's hospitals in the nation. Hopkins Children’s is Maryland's largest children’s hospital and the only state-designated Trauma Service and Burn Unit for pediatric patients. It has recognized Centers of Excellence in dozens of pediatric subspecialties, including allergy, cardiology, cystic fibrosis, gastroenterology, nephrology, neurology, neurosurgery, oncology, pulmonary, and transplant. Hopkins Children's will celebrate its 100th anniversary and move to a new home in 2012. For more information, please visit www.hopkinschildrens.org