Food allergy (FA) represents an increasing social and economic health problem. Prevalence of food allergy differs from one country to another depending on genetic and environmental as well as feeding habits of each country. Estimate the prevalence of confirmed immunoglobulin E-mediated food allergy (FA) among adult Egyptian patients and identify its possible risk factors. A total of 2081 adult subjects were randomly selected from the Allergy outpatient clinic at Ain Shams university hospitals. Patients who disclosed food adverse complaints (probable food allergy group) were further subjected to a detailed questionnaire, complete blood cell count, total immunoglobulin E level, skin prick test and /or specific immunoglobulin E test for common food allergens, and oral food challenge with the culprit food. Patients were classified into confirmed food allergy and no food allergy groups depending on the results of oral food challenge test. Out of the 2081 adults, 100 subjects had self-reported food adverse complaints, and of them, 45 (45%) had confirmed diagnosis of FA. Thirty four (75.6%) confirmed FA patients were females with mean age ± SD of (38.02 ± 13.08) years, five patients (11.1%) had persistent childhood FA, 11 (24.4 %) had family history of atopy, five (11.1%) had associated atopic diseases and 24 (53.3%) were polysensitized. Female gender, young age and exercise were found to be risk factors for confirmed FA (OR: 1.766, 1.4, and 1.9 respectively). Cutaneous manifestations were the most common presentation of confirmed FA patients in the form of urticaria 40/45 (88.9%) and angioedema 18/45 (40%). The most common food allergen was milk, banana, fish, tomato, strawberry and eggs. In conclusion, IgE mediated food allergy is a noticeable health problem among adult Egyptians, particularly adult females and young age groups.
Background Food allergy is defined as an immune reaction to proteins in the food and can be immunoglobulin (Ig)E-mediated or non–IgE-mediated. IgE-mediated food allergy is a worldwide health problem that affects millions of persons and numerous aspects of a person’s life. Allergic reactions secondary to food ingestion are responsible for a variety of symptoms involving the skin, gastrointestinal tract, and respiratory tract. While all other non-allergic food reactions are categorized as “food intolerance”. Aims to assess prevalence of Food allergy among Egyptian patients complaining of food adverse events attending Allergy clinic at Ain Shams University Hospital. Methods This was a randomized cross sectional study involving 200 patients complaining of food adverse events attending Allergy clinic at Ain Shams University Hospitals between the first of February 2019 till the end of January 2020, 90 patents had confirmed food allergy Results The Total patients who were presented to the Allergy outpatient clinic at Ain Shams University hospital between the first of February 2019 and the end of January 2020 were 200 patients presented complaining of food adverse events with the percentage (9.5%). Among the 200 patients presented complaining of food adverse events, there were 90 patients who were confirmed food allergy. Conclusion food allergy may be over estimated along patient with food adverse events.
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