Oral Immunotherapy for Food Allergy - Research Paper Example

In general, failure to avoid food allergens can trigger signs and symptoms related to allergic rhinitis, asthma, atopic dermatitis, and other types of food allergies (Steinman, 2010; CDC, 2008). As a type of immunological disease, having an allergy to food can significantly affect the socio-economic situation and quality of life of each person (Castellazzi et al., 2013). Aside from losing work productivity, the economic cost of food allergy can reach up to US$24.8 billion in which the direct cost of medication, hospitalization, and healthcare visitations can be as high as US$4.3 billion each year (Gupta et al., 2013).

Around the whole world, roughly 6% to 8% of all children have been affected by food allergies during their childhood life (Gupta et al., 2011; Steinman, 2010). In line with this, almost 15 million Americans have or had experienced some sort of food allergy (news-journal, 2014). Among children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the prevalence rate of food allergy at 5% is equal to young individuals between the age group of 0 to 4 years old, 5 to 9 years old, and 10 to 17 years old (CDC, 2013). Today, food allergy has been considered one of the most common health problems among children (CDC, 2008).

In general, the process of having severe food allergies can adversely affect or impair the quality of life of each person (Anagnostou et al., 2014; Clark et al., 2009). In one of the studies that were conducted by Gupta et al. (2011), the authors mentioned that 30.4% of these children had more than one type of food allergy and that almost 38.7% of children with food allergy had experienced some sort of a severe reaction. Even though Lyons and Forde (2004) pointed out that most people with a food allergy does not consider this particular health situation to have a significant impact on their socio-economic lives, the authors found out that the presence of food allergy can still cause a person to suffer from higher levels of anxiety.