Increasing in prevalence, food allergy (FA) is becoming an important public health concern. In Korean adults, however, clinical phenotypes and causes of FA have not been studied. We aimed to study common causative allergens and clinical manifestations of FA in Korean adults.
In the 95 patients, 181 FA events were recorded. The mean age of first onset of FA symptoms was 34.7±15.8 years. The most frequent causative food was seafood (34.8%); shrimp and craballergies ranked highest, regardless of age and sex. Among all FA events, there were 47 (26.0%) cases of anaphylaxis and 26 (14.4%) cases of oral allergysyndrome (OAS). Seafood (51.1%) was the most frequent cause of anaphylaxis, followed by grains (14.9%). Most OAS cases were associated with fruits (95.7%). The frequency of fruit-induced FA was significantly higher in males than in females (23.0% vs 8.4%, P=0.011). While no cases of vegetables-induced FA were noted in younger individuals (19 to 30 years), vegetables accounted for 20.5% of FA symptoms in older subjects (≥51 years, P<0.001). Allergic rhinitis (44.2%) and drug allergy (20.0%) were major comorbidities associated with FA. Overall, 29 FA events had cofactors, of which 10 were combined with exercise.
CONCLUSIONS:
The major causes of FA in Korean adults were crustacean, fruits, and grains. Interestingly, the clinical manifestations of FA and demographics varied according to type of foodallergen.