Only a third of pediatricians fully follow guidelines on peanut allergy prevention

Date:
July 15, 2020
Source:
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
Summary:
While 93 percent of U.S. pediatricians surveyed were aware of the
national guidelines on peanut allergy prevention in infants, only
30 percent were fully implementing the recommended practices and
64 percent reported partial implementation, according to the study.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== While 93 percent of U.S. pediatricians surveyed were aware of the national guidelines on peanut allergy prevention in infants, only 30 percent were
fully implementing the recommended practices and 64 percent reported
partial implementation, according to the study published in JAMA Network
Open. The guidelines issued in 2017 call for assessment of peanut-allergy
risk and introduction of peanut- containing foods in the diet of infants
at 4-6 months of age, in efforts to prevent peanut allergy. This is
a reversal from 20 years ago, when the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that peanut should be avoided until the child is 3 years old.


==========================================================================
"Our study is the first population-based survey of a large nationwide
sample of U.S. pediatricians that characterizes the current practices
and barriers associated with the 2017 guidelines for preventing peanut
allergy through early introduction of peanut-containing food in the
infant's diet," says lead author Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, pediatrician and
food allergy researcher at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Professor of Pediatrics (Academic General Pediatrics and Primary
Care) and Medicine (Allergy and Immunology), and Director of the Center
for Food Allergy and Asthma Research at Northwestern University Feinberg
School of Medicine. "We found that nearly 70 percent of pediatricians
reported needing additional guideline training. Barriers to implementation
are important to address since pediatricians, beginning with the 4-6
month well-child visits, can have a vital role in the reduction of peanut allergy." Peanut allergy is the most common pediatric food allergy,
affecting 2.2 percent of U.S. children. It is the food allergy least
frequently outgrown and is often associated with severe reactions. The
2017 guidelines from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID) are based on evidence that early introduction of peanut-containing food to infants significantly reduces peanut allergy prevalence.

The survey data included responses from 1,781 pediatricians. Dr. Gupta
and colleagues found that common barriers to guideline implementation
included lack of clinic time, conducting in-office supervised
feeding of peanut-containing food, performing peanut allergy testing,
concerns about newness of the guidelines, and parental fear of allergic reactions. Responding pediatricians also indicated the need for handouts
for families explaining the guidelines on early peanut introduction to
infants, as well as prompts in the electronic health record.

"We need further research on forms of training and types of practice aids
that are necessary to increase guideline implementation," says Dr. Gupta.

This study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institute of Health (NIH), under
grant number UM2AI117870.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Ann_&_Robert_H._Lurie_Children's_Hospital_of_Chicago.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Ruchi S. Gupta, Lucy A. Bilaver, Jacqueline L. Johnson, Jack W. Hu,
Jialing Jiang, Alexandria Bozen, Jennifer Martin, Jamie Reese,
Susan F.

Cooper, Matthew M. Davis, Alkis Togias, Samuel J. Arbes. Assessment
of Pediatrician Awareness and Implementation of the Addendum
Guidelines for the Prevention of Peanut Allergy in the
United States. JAMA Network Open, 2020; 3 (7): e2010511 DOI:
10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.10511 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200715142338.htm

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