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Underrepresentation of the Risk and Incidence of Anaphylaxis to Foods
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| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings. |
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We were puzzled by the review article on anaphylaxis by Neugut et al1 recently published in the ARCHIVES. The authors
estimated that anaphylaxis to foods, drugs, latex, and insect stings may affect
1.2% to 15.0% of the US population. Risks and rates of idiopathic, exercise-induced,
and other causes of anaphylaxis were not included in this estimate. They point
out numerous limitations in their analysis, primarily stemming from variations
in the definition of anaphylaxis and the lack of studies performed on unselected
populations. Although we recognize these limitations, we were most surprised
by their apparent underestimate of the impact of food-induced anaphylaxis.
In the abstract, the rate of food-induced anaphylaxis was reported as 0.0004%
and the minimal population at risk was reported as 1099 compared with minimal
estimates of 1.9 million for penicillin, 1.36 million for insect stings, and
22 000 for radiocontrast media.
The minimal estimate reported for food-induced anaphylaxis was . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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