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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Allergy
Sec. Food Allergy
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/falgy.2024.1472673
This article is part of the Research Topic Managing Children with Food Allergy in Schools View all articles

Insights into self-reported food allergies in Romanian schoolchildren

Provisionally accepted
Claudia Pop Claudia Pop 1,2Daniela Rajka Daniela Rajka 3Ioana Corina Bocsan Ioana Corina Bocsan 1*Petronela Alina Coblisan Petronela Alina Coblisan 2Gabriela Edita Ichim Gabriela Edita Ichim 4Anna Lazar Anna Lazar 5Paraschiva Chereches Panta Paraschiva Chereches Panta 4*
  • 1 University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iuliu Hatieganu, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
  • 2 Department of Mother and Child, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
  • 3 Society of Physicians in Children and Youth's Communities, Cluj Napoca, Romania
  • 4 Third Pediatric Discipline, Department of Mother and Child, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
  • 5 Queen Maria Hospital, Department of Obstetrics-Gynecology Cluj Napoca, Cluj Napoca, Romania

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The prevalence of food allergy (FA) varies worldwide with an increasing rate in the last decades. Data of self-reported FA have been recorded by most European countries, the US, Canada and Australia, but not Romania. The aim of this study is to analyze the prevalence and severity of FA and to assess the extent of information the medical and teaching staff in schools have on students' medical history. Methods. A cross-sectional survey was performed in schoolchildren from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, using an online questionnaire delivered to their parents. Results and conclusions. Seven hundred and eight individuals completed the entire questionnaire. The prevalence of selfreported FA was 8.9%, 28.6% presented food-induced angioedema and 38.1% required ER presentation. Cow milk (36.5%), egg (9.5%), strawberry (20.6%) and nuts (2.7%)were the most frequent culprit foods. The lack of an appropriate and accurate communication with the medical and teaching staff in the school suggest the requirement for further measures for parents and children educations regarding food allergy detection and management.

    Keywords: food allergy, Schoolchildren, food-induced anaphylaxis, prevalence of food allergy, teachers

    Received: 29 Jul 2024; Accepted: 19 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Pop, Rajka, Bocsan, Coblisan, Ichim, Lazar and Panta. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Ioana Corina Bocsan, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iuliu Hatieganu, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
    Paraschiva Chereches Panta, Third Pediatric Discipline, Department of Mother and Child, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.