About 1 in 3 American adults has an allergy

By Denise Mann Health Day Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 26, 2023 (HealthDay News) — While it seems like everyone you know has some kind of allergy, new research suggests you’re not mistaken.

Up to 1 in 3 adults and 1 in 4 children suffer from a seasonal allergy, food allergy or eczema, according to the latest government data.

Caused by a reaction to plant pollen, seasonal allergies were the most common type of allergy in children and adults. Symptoms include sniffling, sneezing, coughing and itchy eyes.

The study was not designed to see if allergies are on the rise. Still, these conditions have become more prevalent according to previous reports, the study author said. Benjamin Zablotskyhealth statistician at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 19% of children and nearly 26% of adults were diagnosed with seasonal allergies in 2021.

Just over 7% of adults suffer from eczema and 6.2% have a food allergy, according to the new survey. Seasonal allergies were more common in white adults, while black adults were more likely to have a food allergy.

Of the children, nearly 11% suffered from eczema and nearly 6% had a food allergy. Eczema is most common in children ages 6 to 11, and black children are more likely to have a food allergy.

The new reports are designed differently from the previous ones. Instead of asking about self-reported allergies, the researchers asked about allergies diagnosed by a doctor. It’s also the first time they’ve looked at allergies in adults, so it’s not possible to see how the rates in adults may have changed over time.

Experts said they were seeing more allergies than ever before, but stressed that treatment was also improving.

Climate change could be behind the rise in allergies, says Dr. Praveen Buddigaclinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

“Year after year we see drought conditions and higher temperatures leading to situations such as forest fires; winters have also become much colder or frigid and longer,” he said. “This leads to an earlier [and more extended] seasonal allergy season and colder/freezing season [is] bigger every year [and] leads to drier skin conditions, or more prone to eczema.

The good news is that doctors are getting better at treating seasonal allergies with allergy shots, Buddiga said.

“Food allergies are always a challenge,” he said. Sometimes peanut allergies improve over time, but other food allergies do not.

If you think you have allergies, see an allergist for allergy skin testing, said Dr Mark Jacobsonmedical director of Allergy & Asthma Physicians in Hinsdale, Illinois.

Medications such as intranasal steroids and taking steps to avoid exposure can help.

If you suffer from seasonal allergies, keeping the windows closed and running the air conditioning can help keep offensive pollen out of your home.

“The focus should always be on the bedroom since patients spend a third of their lives in their bedrooms or more,” Jacobson said.

“If avoidance measures and medication aren’t enough, then allergy shots are an option,” he said. “With this treatment, the patient receives a small amount of the thing they are allergic to. [that is] slowly increased over time so that the immune system learns to ignore these allergens, rather than overreact to them.

Dr Peter Lioclinical assistant professor of dermatology and pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said he sees a considerable number of allergy patients in his office.

There appears to have been an increase in previous decades, although it’s unclear why, Lio said.

Chemicals and pollutants in the environment can damage skin, gut and lung barriers, and “once damaged, allergens can enter our bodies abnormally and are more likely to cause allergic sensitization,” he said. -he explains.

There is good news on the eczema front, Lio noted. “We’re better than ever at treating eczema and doing it with safer treatments, and now we’re starting to talk about the concept of remission or making people so much better that they can reduce or even stop some of their treatments.” , did he declare.

SOURCES: Mark Jacobson, MD, medical director, Allergy & Asthma Physicians, Hinsdale, Ill. : Praveen Buddiga, MD, allergist, clinical assistant professor, medicine, University of California, San Francisco; Peter Lio, MD, clinical assistant professor, dermatology and pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago; National Center for Health Statistics data sheetJanuary 26, 2023

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