Prevalence of confirmed immunoglobulin E-mediated food allergy among adult Egyptian patients

Abstract

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.

Prevalence of self-reported food allergy in Tunisia: General trends and probabilistic modeling

“… 29 Moreover, fruits and seafood were the most reported food allergen in our study, whereas the most common food allergens are fruit and wheat in Algeria, 30 banana and Bakers-Yeast in Libya, 31 and milk and banana in Egypt. 32 …”

Effect of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy on infantile food allergy: A retrospective longitudinal study cohort in Southwest China

“…Children living with FA often experience impaired health-related quality of life, have frequent school absences, and are at an increased risk of emergency department (ED) utilization and hospitalizations for care [21][22][23]. Previous studies have shown that children's food allergy may be closely related to family genetic history and abnormal maternal metabolism during pregnancy [24][25][26]. Increasingly intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy is recognized to be associated with an abnormal metabolic profile [9,27].…”

Feast for thought: A comprehensive review of food allergy 2021-2023

“…Food allergy (FA) is a major public health issue globally, affecting about 8% of children and 10% of adults (see Fig 1 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 for global prevalence data). FA has a negative impact on the lives of patients with allergy and their families, and there is no curative treatment.…”