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Review
. 2020 Apr;20(2):188-193.
doi: 10.1097/ACI.0000000000000622.

Food allergy: how expensive are they?

Ashley A Dyer  1 , Olivia R Negris  1 , Ruchi S Gupta  1   2 , Lucy A Bilaver  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Food allergy: how expensive are they?

Ashley A Dyer et al. Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol. 2020 Apr.

Abstract

Purpose of review: Food allergy remains a disease of global public health significance well known to impact social, emotional, and financial well being. This review aims to summarize the existing literature focused on the direct, indirect, and intangible costs of food allergy at the household and healthcare system levels, and begin to discuss how emerging treatment and prevention strategies may be leveraged to comprehensively care for the food allergic population with the efficient use of health resources.

Recent findings: Food allergy imposes significant costs to multiple stakeholders and largely impact families at the household level. Recent studies elucidate the need to balance the household management of food allergy with the efficient use of health resources. Overall, it remains critical that safe foods and medications remain affordable while further exploring the cost-effectiveness of early introduction, emerging food allergy therapies, and the wider use of stock epinephrine to adequately meet the public health needs of the food-allergic community.

Summary: Better understanding how the cost of food allergy impacts populations will help to inform more progressive policies aimed at lessening socioeconomic disparities and ultimately improve quality of life for children and adults with food allergies.

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References

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    1. Miles S, Fordham R, Mills C, et al. A framework for measuring costs to society of IgE-mediated food allergy. Allergy 2005; 60:996–1003.
    1. Gupta RS, Warren CM, Smith BM, et al. The public health impact of parent-reported childhood food allergies in the United States. Pediatrics 2018; 142:e20181235.
    1. Gupta RS, Warren CM, Smith BM, et al. Prevalence and severity of food allergies among US adults. JAMA Network Open 2019; 2:e185630–e1185630.

MeSH terms