School age children with food allergies and possibilities of care in Lithuanian school

Abstract

Food allergy reactions and anaphylaxis may occur in children, when they while at school. Unfortunately, school personnel aften has no information about child food allergy. To identify allergic reaction to food in school children and to evaluate attitude of staff towards care of them. A questionnaire assessing food allergy awereness, avoidance and treatment strategies was used to a random sample of secondary schools in Lithuania. 280 nurses, working at schools completed questionnaire. There were 130,565 children in the sample 1.2% of self-reported prevalence of food allergy was estabilished. These were children under 16 years of age, median time of allergic reaction was 6.5 years. More girls reported allergic reaction to food than boys (p300 to 154 IU. Children with persistent allergic symptoms and reaction to food had significantly higher total IgE comared with those without persistent allergic symptoms (p=0.02 and p=0.008, respectively). Only 10% of all allergic children to food had a salbutamol aerosol and antihistamines in the school bag, none of them had a self-injector with adrenaline. There is an obvious need for schools to educate staff about food allergy, to establish immediate acces to emergency epinephrine and train staff for epinephrine use.