title: Prevalence of immediate-type food allergy in early childhood in seoul.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There are scanty epidemiologic data on the prevalence of food allergy (FA) among preschool children in Asia. We performed this study to determine the prevalence and causative foods of immediate-type FA in early childhood in Korea.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study was performed between September and October 2011. Children aged 0-6 years were recruited from 301 public child care centers in Seoul. Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire on FA. Children with FA were classified into "perceived FA, ever," "immediate-type FA, ever," and "immediate-type FA, current" according to the algorithm.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 16,749 children were included in this study. The prevalence of "perceived FA, ever," "immediate-type FA, ever," and "immediate-type FA, current" was 15.1%, 7.0%, and 3.7%, respectively. "Immediate-type FA, current" was reported by 182 (4.9%) out of 3,738 children aged ≤2 years, 262 (3.4%) of 7,648 children aged 3-4 years, and 177 (3.3%) of 5,363 children aged 5-6 years. Hen's egg (126/621) was the most frequent cause as the individual food item, followed by cow's milk (82/621) and peanut (58/621). Among the food groups, fruits (114/621), tree nuts (90/621) and crustaceans (85/621) were the most common offending foods. The three leading causes of food-induced anaphylaxis were hen's egg (22/47), cow's milk (15/47), and peanut (14/47).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of immediate-type FA in early childhood is 3.7%, and is higher in younger children. The most common offending foods differed with age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. ; Environmental Health Center for Atopic Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Miran
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. ; Environmental Health Center for Atopic Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Dosoo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. ; Environmental Health Center for Atopic Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Kangmo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. ; Environmental Health Center for Atopic Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jihyun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Center for Atopic Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Youngshin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Han
keywords: Immediate hypersensitivity; child; food allergy; prevalence