Allergies remain common in Australian primary school-aged children

Published: April 8, 2024

Measuring how common allergic diseases are at different ages across childhood is important for estimating disease burden and trends over time. However, there is limited data collected from longitudinal studies on the prevalence of common allergic diseases during childhood and few studies have included the gold standard oral food challenge to confirm food allergy.

In a recent issue of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, Peters et al. describe how the prevalence of allergic diseases change across the first 10 years of life. The longitudinal HealthNuts recruited n=5276 infants at age 12-months, irrespective of allergy risk. The cohort has been followed-up at ages 4, 6 and 10 years of age, with the 15-year-old follow-up underway. At each wave, food allergy was measured using skin prick test (SPT) and oral food challenge, and the other allergic diseases were measured via questionnaire. From age 6, SPT to aeroallergens was also performed.

Allergic diseases are prevalent in Australian 6 and 10-year-old children. At both ages, nearly 40% have a current allergic disease and one third of those have multiple allergies. The prevalence of food allergy remained similar between ages 6 and 10 years at 6%; among infants with food allergy at age 1, nearly half still had an allergy to one or more foods at age 10. The prevalence of eczema decreased from around 25% at age 1 to 15% at age 6 and 13% at age 10 years. Asthma prevalence remained similar at ages 6 and 10 years, affecting around 12-13%. The largest change observed was for rhinitis which increased from 15% at age 6 to 25% at age 10 years. At age 10 years 11% of children were sensitized to at least one food allergen and 45% were sensitized to at least one aeroallergen.

Tracking the prevalence of allergy and how it varies with age across the preschool and school years is important for informing public health and research priorities. Allergic diseases remain common in Australian primary-school aged children, and these findings highlight the importance of implementing and optimizing prevention, monitoring, and treatment strategies for allergic diseases.

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice is an official journal of the AAAAI, focusing on practical information for the practicing clinician.

Full Article