The international collaborative research project group EuroPrevall has published a protocol for standardising the assessment of food allergy prevalence and risk factors in European children from different regions. They seek to address the discrepancies in allergy diagnosis between different regions, by implementing the double-blind placebo-controlled food provocation test as a standard to confirm suspected allergic reactions in subsequent population studies in children.

The EuroPrevall research group started a multi-centre birth cohort study, recruiting a total of over 12,000 newborns in nine countries across Europe in 2005-2009. Parents were interviewed by telephone three times during the first 30 months, plus they were asked to immediately inform the project centres about possible allergic reactions to food at any time during the follow-up period.

All children with suspected food allergy symptoms were clinically evaluated including double-blind placebo-controlled food challenge tests. Sensitization to different food allergens was assessed by measurements of specific serum immunoglobulin E and skin prick tests, collection of blood, saliva or buccal swabs for genetic tests, breast milk for measurement of food proteins/cytokines, and quality-of-life and economic burden of families with food allergic children was also evaluated.

As a consequence of this large study, the EuroPrevall project has acquired unique data on prevalence, risk factors, quality-of-life, and costs of food allergies in Europe. They maintain this will lead to the development of more informed and integrated preventative and treatment strategies for children with food allergies.

Reference: Keil et al. 2009. Allergy. DOI: 10.1111/j.1398-9995.2009.02171.x