Food allergy may be underdiagnosed in children on Medicaid

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/arh-fam051320.php

News Release 13-May-2020
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Prevalence of food allergy among Medicaid-enrolled children across the U.S. was substantially lower (0.6 percent), compared to previous national estimates using parent surveys (7.6 percent) and reports of physician confirmation of food allergy (4.7 percent). The study, published in Academic Pediatrics, was the first to analyze Medicaid claims data of over 23 million children to estimate prevalence of food allergy diagnosis.

"We were surprised to find such a large discrepancy in estimates of food allergy prevalence in children on Medicaid compared to the general population," says senior author Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, a pediatrician and food allergy researcher at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Our findings suggest potential under-diagnosis of food allergy among Medicaid-enrolled children. Families in the Medicaid program may be encountering barriers to accessing and affording specialists and potentially life-saving epinephrine prescription."

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