CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A Chicago-based study hopes to help reduce peanut allergies in children.
The Center for Food Allergy & Asthma Research (CFAAR), at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, announced the launch of the Intervention to Reduce Early Peanut Allergy in Children (iREACH) study.
iREACH is a five-year, randomized clinical trial aimed at assessing and improving pediatric clinician adherence to the 2017 prevention of peanut allergy guidelines developed by an expert panel sponsored by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Researchers will follow more than 10,000 infants until the age of two-and-a-half to ensure their pediatricians are following the recommended guidelines.
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“Through supporting pediatric clinicians in adhering to the guidelines, we have an achievable way to prevent peanut allergy and reduce incidence, which is exciting,” Dr. Ruchi Gupta, the study principal investigator, noted.
According to Northwestern, the prevalence of peanut allergy remains alarmingly high in the U.S. Currently, around 2.2 percent of the pediatric population has been diagnosed with peanut allergy, a three-fold increase within the past two decades. Peanut allergy accounts for a quarter of pediatric food allergy and severe food allergies are the most common among children with peanut allergy. The iREACH study will help combat these trends.
For more information about the study, please visit www.ireachstudy.com