Prevalence of Self-Reported Food Allergies and Their Association with Other Health Conditions among Adults in Saudi Arabia.

Nora A Althumiri,Mohammed F Aljuwaysim,Saleh A Alqahtani,Norah Almousa,Mada H Basyouni,Nasser F Bindhim

doi:10.3390/ijerph18010347

Abstract

Food allergies are a potentially life-threatening health issue, and few studies have determined their prevalence throughout Saudi Arabia. The main objective of our study was to estimate the prevalence and distribution of self-reported food allergies, and explore their association with other health conditions among adults in Saudi Arabia. This study was a nationwide cross-sectional survey conducted via phone interviews in June 2020. A proportional quota-sampling technique was used to obtain equal distributions of participants by age and gender across the 13 regions of Saudi Arabia. Self-reported food allergy, height, weight, health conditions, mental health status, and demographic variables were collected. Of the 6239 participants contacted, 4709 (75.48%) participants responded and completed the interview. Furthermore, 50.1% of the participants were female, with a mean age of 36.4 ± 13.5 years (18–90 years). The prevalence of food allergies was 19.7%. The most self-reported food allergies were egg, shellfish and shrimp, and peanuts, with a prevalence of 3.7%, 3.1%, and 3.0%, respectively. There was an association between the presence of food allergies and reported bariatric surgery, asthma, colon disease, and being at risk of depression. Bariatric surgery was significantly associated with lower likelihood of self-reported allergy (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.22–2.34, p = 0.002). This study revealed, for the first time, a high prevalence of self-reported food allergies among adults in Saudi Arabia in a large nationwide sample, and food allergy association with bariatric surgery, asthma, colon disease, and being at risk of depression. This information is valuable for clinicians and policymakers, particularly in terms of food allergen labeling.

Highlights

This study shows that there was a significant association between participants reporting food allergies and being diagnosed with asthma (X2 = 39.89, p < 0.001), colon disease (X2 = 23.83, p < 0.001), and bariatric surgery (X2 = 27.21, p < 0.001), in which participants with these health outcomes were more likely to report having food allergies
Participants were able to report food allergy to more than one allergen. This was a cross-sectional study that explored the prevalence of self-reported food allergies and specific food allergens among adults in Saudi Arabia, and the association between the presence of food allergies and comorbidities, mental health status, and demographic characteristics through a nationwide phone survey
There had not been a nationwide study on Saudi Arabian adults

Summary

Introduction

Food allergies are an “adverse health event arising from a specific immune response that occurs reproducibly on exposure to a given food” [1,2]. Depending on the severity of the food allergy, reactions to foods can range from tingling or itching in the mouth, to severe and possibly life-threatening allergic reactions called anaphylaxis [3]. The severity of food reactions depends on the amount of ingested food, its stability against digestion, and epithelial permeability [4]. Age, asthma, and having other food allergies are risk factors for having allergic reactions to certain types of food [3]. The most common foods which can be eaten separately or included as an ingredient, even in trace amounts, Int. J.

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