ATTITUDES TOWARDS ORAL IMMUNOTHERAPY AMONG A DIVERSE, FOOD-ALLERGIC POPULATION

Abstract

<h3>Introduction</h3> Advances in oral immunotherapy (OIT) have expanded treatment options for patients with food allergy (FA). To inform patient education and outreach efforts and promote equitable access to treatment, a greater understanding of current OIT-related knowledge, attitudes, and experiences is needed, <h3>Methods</h3> The FORWARD study is a prospective, multi-center, observational cohort study designed to characterize the natural history of FA among a diverse sample of pediatric patient/caregiver dyads of Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and Non-Hispanic White (NHW) race and ethnicity, . We administered a questionnaire beginning in 2019, to all FORWARD participants and compared their responses to questions assessing familiarity with OIT, potential outcomes that would motivate one to start OIT, and perceived barriers to treatment. <h3>Results</h3> Among 259 respondents, 74 (28.6%) were NHB and 185 (71.4%) were NHW and the average age of the population was 6 years old at enrollment. Families of NHB participants reported to be not at all familiar with OIT more frequently compared to NHW families (23.0% vs. 9.7%, p = 0.045). Approximately 18.4% of the cohort was somewhat or very interested in considering OIT as a treatment option while another 18.4% of the cohort was not interested or neutral/unsure about starting OIT. The most commonly cited reason for why their child was not currently receiving OIT was that their healthcare provider never discussed OIT as a treatment option (26.6%). <h3>Conclusion</h3> Data from a multi-site, longitudinal cohort of NHB and NHW FA patient/caregiver dyads suggests that OIT awareness and access to treatment are lacking and may differ substantially across racial/ethnic strata.