Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016;53(4):356-62.
doi: 10.3109/02770903.2015.1126848. Epub 2016 Jan 22.

Trends in allergy prevalence among children aged 0-17 years by asthma status, United States, 2001-2013

Lara J Akinbami  1   2 , Alan E Simon  1 , Kenneth C Schoendorf  3
Affiliations

Trends in allergy prevalence among children aged 0-17 years by asthma status, United States, 2001-2013

Lara J Akinbami et al. J Asthma. 2016.

Abstract

Objectives: Children with asthma and allergies--particularly food and/or multiple allergies-are at risk for adverse asthma outcomes. This analysis describes allergy prevalence trends among US children by asthma status.

Methods: We analyzed 2001-2013 National Health Interview Survey data for children aged 0-17 years. We estimated trends for reported respiratory, food, and skin allergy and the percentage of children with one, two, or all three allergy types by asthma status. We estimated unadjusted trends, and among children with asthma, adjusted associations between demographic characteristics and allergy.

Results: Prevalence of any allergy increased by 0.3 percentage points annually among children without asthma but not among children with asthma. However, underlying patterns changed among children with asthma: food and skin allergy prevalence increased as did the percentage with all three allergy types. Among children with asthma, risk was higher among younger and non-Hispanic black children for reported skin allergy, among non-Hispanic white children for reported respiratory allergy, and among non-poor children for food and respiratory allergies. Prevalence of having one allergy type decreased by 0.50 percentage points annually, while the percent with all three types increased 0.2 percentage points annually. Non-poor and non-Hispanic white children with asthma were more likely to have multiple allergy types.

Conclusions: While overall allergy prevalence among children with asthma remained stable, patterns in reported allergy type and number suggested a greater proportion may be at risk of adverse asthma outcomes associated with allergy: food allergy increased as did the percentage with all three allergy types.

Keywords: Epidemiology; allergy prevalence; atopy; pediatrics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interest:

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. No external funding was sought or obtained to support the work described in the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Children with food, skin and respiratory allergy, by asthma status Data source: National Health Interview Survey Note: ↑ and ↓ denote significantly changing trends.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Children with one, two or three types of allergy, by asthma status Data source: National Health Interview Survey Note: ↑ and ↓ denote significantly changing trends. NS denotes no statistically significant change in trend.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of allergy type among children with asthma, 2001–2002 and 2012–2013 Figure not drawn to scale.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sun HL, Yeh CJ, Ku MS, Lue KH. Coexistence of allergic diseases: patterns and frequencies. Allergy and asthma proceedings: the official journal of regional and state allergy societies. 2012;33(1):e1–4. - PubMed
    1. Kulig M, Bergmann R, Klettke U, Wahn V, Tacke U, Wahn U. Natural course of sensitization to food and inhalant allergens during the first 6 years of life. The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology. 1999;103(6):1173–9. - PubMed
    1. Spergel JM. From atopic dermatitis to asthma: the atopic march. Annals of allergy, asthma & immunology: official publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology. 2010;105(2):99–106. quiz 7–9, 17. - PubMed
    1. Castro-Rodriguez JA. The Asthma Predictive Index: early diagnosis of asthma. Current opinion in allergy and clinical immunology. 2011;11(3):157–61. - PubMed
    1. Kotaniemi-Syrjanen A, Reijonen TM, Romppanen J, Korhonen K, Savolainen K, Korppi M. Allergen-specific immunoglobulin E antibodies in wheezing infants: the risk for asthma in later childhood. Pediatrics. 2003;111(3):e255–61. - PubMed