Prevalence of confirmed I g E ‐mediated food allergy among adolescents in T urkey

Background Although food allergy is an important health problem in W estern countries, the prevalence varies among geographic regions. There is limited data on the prevalence of food allergy especially for adolescent age group, and the data from T urkey and M editerranean region are even scarce. Methods The study is a cross‐sectional survey including a questionnaire followed by phone survey with families that have reported food allergy and clinical evaluation of children having a history compatible with food allergy after phone survey. The sample number of students has been calculated 9096 of a total of 210.000 students at the second stage (6th, 7th, and 8th grades) of state elementary schools in the metropolitan counties of A nkara province with the assumption of food allergy prevalence (P) = 1% and a δ value = 0.2 (α < 0.05, β = 0.8). Results Of 11,233 questionnaires distributed at 34 schools, 10,096 (89.4%) have been returned. The number of reported food allergy was 1139 (11.2%), and it was reduced to 133 (1.3%) after phone survey. After clinical evaluation by skin test, specific I g E and double‐blind placebo‐controlled food challenge ( DBPCFC ), proven I g E ‐mediated food allergy was determined in 15 (0.15%) children. The foods most commonly resulting food allergy were peanut 0.05% and treenuts 0.05%. Conclusion The prevalence of food allergy among adolescent age group has been confirmed to be comparatively low in T urkey. Peanuts and treenuts were determined to be the most common causes of I g E ‐mediated food allergy.