The epidemiology of food allergy:

Food allergy is a common, serious health risk in the United States, but its prevalence has not been systematically measured in nationally representative data reflecting clinical diagnoses. Existing prevalence estimates either utilize data from nationally representative surveys that rely on respondent-reported food allergy diagnosis or data from clinics or hospital systems that are not
nationally representative.

This project by the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center at the University of Michigan examines data on millions of individuals from a proprietary database of private health insurance claims, to estimate the prevalence of food allergies among privately insured individuals ages 0 through 64 in the US.

We estimate food allergy prevalence overall and by gender over the life course as well as
the prevalence of specific allergies (peanuts, seafood/shellfish). So far, we find that food allergy generally peaks in childhood and declines through the rest of the life course, but this is not true for all types of food allergies. For example, the prevalence of seafood/shellfish allergy
increases in young adulthood, particularly among women.

This webinar featuring MHWFAC Director James R. Baker, Jr., MD and the project investigators, Helen Levy, PhD, and Ryan Schildcrout, explains the project plan and preliminary findings as of July 2022.