Food allergy among Mexican infants and preschoolers: prevalence and associated factors

Prevalence of Parent-Reported Food Allergy in a Mexican Pre-School Population

“…The estimated parent-reported prevalence of "immediate-type FA, current" in Mexican schoolchildren from Culiacán, a city in the northwest of Mexico, was 1.6%. This estimation falls within the range of most survey-based prevalence rates reported in Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America (from 0.4% to 17.6%) [17,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. Notably, the prevalence rate estimated in the present study is lower than the one reported for preschoolers from Guadalajara (4.1%), a city in the west of Mexico.…”

“…This is in line with the most frequently reported allergenic foods in preschoolers in European, Asian, and Latin American countries [25,33,[36][37][38][39]. In fact, the only study carried out in a Mexican preschool population reported that milk (1.0%) and fruits (1.0%) were the most common triggers of allergic reactions among potential food allergic children from a city (Guadalajara) in the west of Mexico [17]. Our research group reported similar results in a survey carried out among schoolchildren aged 5-13, in the same geographical region and using the same questionnaire (egg = 0.40%; milk = 0.29%) [11].…”

“…Although there is still limited information [10], most food allergy epidemiological studies carried out in Latin America have been focused on schoolchildren, informing prevalence rates between 1.4 and 5.5% [11][12][13][14][15]. In Mexico, the second-largest Latin American country in terms of population and the third in territorial extension [16], only one food allergy prevalence study has been conducted in preschoolers, which took place in the west of the country [17]. Notably, the populations in the west and the northwest of Mexico are expected to be exposed to a different environment and culinary habits and to carry a distinct genetic makeup [18].…”