Impact of Atopic Status on Clinical Presentation and Treatment Response in Pediatric Patients With Eosinophilic Esophagitis.

Background: Nearly 80% of patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) have coexisting atopic disease, yet a subset do not. It is unclear if this lack of atopy impacts presentation or response to therapy.

Objectives: To characterize the presentation and response to therapy in atopic versus nonatopic pediatric patients with EoE.

Clinicopathologic Correlations in Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders.

Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGIDs) are a collection of disorders characterized by allergy-driven inflammation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Affected patients typically present with nonspecific symptoms of GI dysfunction and are frequently found to have mucosal abnormalities during endoscopy as well as increased eosinophil levels on tissue biopsy that are felt to be responsible for generating the clinical findings. Each of these findings is important in both the diagnosis and management of EGIDs.

Impact of food allergy on food insecurity and health literacy in a tertiary care pediatric allergy population.

Background: Food insecurity (FI), limited availability of or access to nutritional foods, is linked to poor child/caregiver health. We examined FI in food-allergic and non-food-allergic children to determine whether dietary limitations associated with food allergy increases risk of FI.

Methods: Food-allergic and non-food-allergic children (1-17 years) were recruited from Arkansas Children's Hospital allergy/asthma clinics.

Phenotypic Characterization of Eosinophilic Esophagitis in a Large Multicenter Patient Population from the Consortium for Food Allergy Research.

Background: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is increasingly common, but data on phenotypic aspects are still incomplete.

Objectives: To describe the clinical, endoscopic, and histopathologic features of a large number of children and adults with EoE across the United States.

Methods: This was a multisite single visit registry enrolling subjects aged 6 months to 65 years with EoE.

Genetic variants at the 16p13 locus confer risk for eosinophilic esophagitis.

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the esophagus triggered by immune hypersensitivity to food. Herein, we tested whether genetic risk factors for known, non-allergic, immune-mediated diseases, particularly those involving autoimmunity, were associated with EoE risk. We used the high-density Immunochip platform, encoding 200,000 genetic variants for major auto-immune disease.

Epicutaneous immunotherapy for the treatment of peanut allergy in children and young adults.

Background: Peanut allergy is common, life-threatening, and without therapeutic options. We evaluated peanut epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT) by using Viaskin Peanut for peanut allergy treatment.

Objective: We sought to evaluate the clinical, safety, and immunologic effects of EPIT for the treatment of peanut allergy.

Current and Emerging Therapies for IgE-Mediated Food Allergy.

Food allergies are a growing clinical problem leading to increased health care utilization and decreases in patient quality of life. Current treatment recommendations include strict dietary avoidance of the offending food as well as use of self-injectable epinephrine in case of accidental exposure with allergic reaction. Although many individuals will eventually outgrow their food allergies, a substantial number will not.

Anaphylaxis in food allergy.

Food allergy is a known trigger of anaphylaxis. Although the awareness of food allergies has improved, food-related allergic reactions and anaphylaxis still commonly occur. The recognition of anaphylaxis, its prompt treatment, and patient education are important for the prevention of future food reactions.

Genome-wide association analysis of eosinophilic esophagitis provides insight into the tissue specificity of this allergic disease.

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic inflammatory disorder associated with allergic hypersensitivity to food. We interrogated >1.5 million genetic variants in EoE cases of European ancestry and subsequently in a multi-site cohort with local and out-of-study control subjects.

Treatment of Hymenoptera venom allergy: an update.

Purpose Of Review: To review and summarize the studies published between 2012 and 2014 about the use of venom immunotherapy (VIT) to treat Hymenoptera hypersensitivity.

Recent Findings: Several studies reconfirm the effectiveness of VIT in both children and adults, and provide a better understanding of its immune-modulating effects. There are concerns about its cost-effectiveness; however, VIT versus self-injectable epinephrine alone when stung is the preferred treatment of choice for affected individuals when quality-of-life issues are considered.

Sustained unresponsiveness to peanut in subjects who have completed peanut oral immunotherapy.

Background: Although peanut oral immunotherapy (OIT) has been conclusively shown to cause desensitization, it is currently unknown whether clinical protection persists after stopping therapy.

Objective: Our primary objective was to determine whether peanut OIT can induce sustained unresponsiveness after withdrawal of OIT.

Methods: We conducted a pilot clinical trial of peanut OIT at 2 US centers.

Clinical manifestations of food allergy.

Adverse reactions to foods are a diverse group of clinical syndromes resulting from immunologic and non-immunologic responses to food ingestion. Symptoms can range from mild, self-limiting reactions to severe, life-threatening reactions depending on the mechanism. This review primarily focuses on the clinical manifestations of immunologically derived adverse food reactions or food allergies.

A comparison of asthma prevalence and morbidity between rural and urban schoolchildren in Arkansas.

Background: Asthma disproportionately affects minority and low-income children. Investigations that focus on high-risk pediatric populations outside the inner city are limited.

Objective: To compare asthma prevalence and morbidity in urban and rural children in Arkansas.