title: Association of food allergy with asthma severity and atopic diseases in Jewish and Arab adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the prevalence of reported food allergy and its association with atopic diseases and asthma severity among Jewish and Arab adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  The self-report questionnaire of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) was administered to adolescents aged 13-14 years from randomly selected junior high schools in Israel. Questions regarding food allergy were added.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 11 171 questionnaires were available for analysis. Food allergy was reported by 3.6% of participants: 1.9% milk, 0.6% egg, 0.6% peanut and 0.4% sesame. On multivariate analysis, food allergy was strongly associated with current asthma (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.8-3.3), atopic eczema (OR, 3.2; 95% CI, 2.4-4.3) and allergic rhinitis (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.8-3.1). Arabs were significantly more allergic to peanut (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.5-4.1), egg (OR, 3.5; 95% CI, 2.1-5.9) and sesame (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.2-4.5) than Jews, and less allergic to milk (OR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.4-0.9). Asthmatic subjects with food allergy had significantly more parameters of severe asthma than those without food allergy (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of allergy to specific foods differs between Jews and Arabs. Asthmatic adolescents with food allergy report more severe asthma than those without food allergy.
authors: Allergy and Immunology Clinic, Pulmonary Institute, Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tiqva, Israel. graif@post.tau.ac.il
authors: Yael
authors: Y
authors: Graif
authors: Larissa
authors: L
authors: German
authors: Irit
authors: I
authors: Livne
authors: Tamy
authors: T
authors: Shohat
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D018912:Arabs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001249:Asthma / Q000208:ethnology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007585:Jews / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D065631:Rhinitis, Allergic; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000208:ethnology*; D057566:Self Report; D012720:Severity of Illness Index