Sequential approach is feasible and safe for peanut allergy, with very low frequency of rescue epinephrine use
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 11, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Oral immunotherapy (OIT) using boiled followed by roasted peanuts is feasible and safe for treating children with peanut allergy, according to a study published online Jan. 11 in Clinical & Experimental Allergy.
Luke E. Grzeskowiak, Ph.D., from the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, and colleagues examined the efficacy and safety of OIT for treating peanut allergy in children using sequential doses of boiled peanuts followed by roasted peanuts. Seventy children aged 6 to 18 years with a positive history of peanut allergy underwent OIT involving sequential up-dosing with 12-hour boiled peanuts for 12 weeks, two-hour boiled peanuts for 20 weeks, and roasted peanuts for 20 weeks to a target maintenance dose of 12 peanuts/day.
The researchers found that desensitization was successfully induced in 56 participants (80 percent). Three participants withdrew due to treatment-related adverse events. Sixty-one percent of participants experienced treatment-related adverse events, for a rate of 6.58 per 1,000 OIT doses. Medication use was infrequent in association with treatment-related adverse events, with three participants (4 percent) reporting rescue epinephrine use (0.05 per 1,000 OIT doses).
“We demonstrate the safety and feasibility of a pragmatic outpatient clinic-based peanut OIT protocol utilizing reduced allergenicity boiled peanuts as an introductory step in successfully inducing desensitization in children aged 6 to 18 years with peanut allergy,” the authors write.
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