Food anaphylaxis in older people. Open Access

Boyle RJ, Shamji MH. Food anaphylaxis in older people. Clin Exp Allergy. 2023 May;53(5):488-490. doi: 10.1111/cea.14330.

Food anaphylaxis has received increasing scientific and media attention in recent decades. While anaphylaxis and food allergy are not new conditions, numbers of hospital admissions, diagnoses and related prescriptions have been rising fast in high-income countries. There is a controversy about how much of this rise is increased pathology and how much is due to changing patterns of behaviour in people with food allergy and their caregivers. However, food anaphylaxis certainly presents a significant burden to those affected, largely due to the dietary and social restrictions which accompany food allergen avoidance, and to anxiety associated with the remote possibility of fatal food anaphylaxis. 

Until now, almost all published literature on food anaphylaxis has focused on young people, since systemic allergic reactions to food are most common in early childhood and fatal reactions mainly occur in adolescents and young adults. In this issue of Clinical and Experimental Allergy, El Hanache et al report the most comprehensive published assessment of food anaphylaxis in older people. 

PDF