RationalePhysician-supervised oral food challenges (OFC) are recommended diagnostic tests, but patient/family motivating factors leading to deferral of the test have not been extensively explored.MethodsParticipants were parents of children with food allergy consecutively attending the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute who had been offered an OFC but had not undertaken one within twenty-four months. Subjects completed a questionnaire listing 27 possible reasons for deferral, marking all factors that applied, with the option to indicate “other”, and identify a most important factor. They provided answers for up to 3 foods offered.ResultsA total of 102 surveys were completed (participation rate 92.7%) for 183 OFC invitations encompassing 30 different foods (most often almond). The children were 38% female, mean age 8.4 years, 31.4% had been treated with epinephrine. Among total OFC invitations, categorical responses were: scheduling issues (56.3%), not interested/not important/impractical for diet (36.7%), fear/emotional issues (25.7%), doubted passing (18.6%), tried on own (10.9%), and others (13.1%). Considering the most important factors (selected for 156 OFC offers, 85%) responses were: scheduling issues (47.4%), not interested/not important/impractical for diet (20.5%), fear/emotional issues (14.1%), doubted passing (4.5%), tried on own (5.8%) and others (7.7%). Other reasons included economic factors and fear of making the allergy worse.ConclusionsExcluding scheduling issues, OFCs were deferred primarily for reasons of lack of interest in the food and concern for emotional impact or fear of reactions. RationalePhysician-supervised oral food challenges (OFC) are recommended diagnostic tests, but patient/family motivating factors leading to deferral of the test have not been extensively explored. Physician-supervised oral food challenges (OFC) are recommended diagnostic tests, but patient/family motivating factors leading to deferral of the test have not been extensively explored. MethodsParticipants were parents of children with food allergy consecutively attending the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute who had been offered an OFC but had not undertaken one within twenty-four months. Subjects completed a questionnaire listing 27 possible reasons for deferral, marking all factors that applied, with the option to indicate “other”, and identify a most important factor. They provided answers for up to 3 foods offered. Participants were parents of children with food allergy consecutively attending the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute who had been offered an OFC but had not undertaken one within twenty-four months. Subjects completed a questionnaire listing 27 possible reasons for deferral, marking all factors that applied, with the option to indicate “other”, and identify a most important factor. They provided answers for up to 3 foods offered. ResultsA total of 102 surveys were completed (participation rate 92.7%) for 183 OFC invitations encompassing 30 different foods (most often almond). The children were 38% female, mean age 8.4 years, 31.4% had been treated with epinephrine. Among total OFC invitations, categorical responses were: scheduling issues (56.3%), not interested/not important/impractical for diet (36.7%), fear/emotional issues (25.7%), doubted passing (18.6%), tried on own (10.9%), and others (13.1%). Considering the most important factors (selected for 156 OFC offers, 85%) responses were: scheduling issues (47.4%), not interested/not important/impractical for diet (20.5%), fear/emotional issues (14.1%), doubted passing (4.5%), tried on own (5.8%) and others (7.7%). Other reasons included economic factors and fear of making the allergy worse. A total of 102 surveys were completed (participation rate 92.7%) for 183 OFC invitations encompassing 30 different foods (most often almond). The children were 38% female, mean age 8.4 years, 31.4% had been treated with epinephrine. Among total OFC invitations, categorical responses were: scheduling issues (56.3%), not interested/not important/impractical for diet (36.7%), fear/emotional issues (25.7%), doubted passing (18.6%), tried on own (10.9%), and others (13.1%). Considering the most important factors (selected for 156 OFC offers, 85%) responses were: scheduling issues (47.4%), not interested/not important/impractical for diet (20.5%), fear/emotional issues (14.1%), doubted passing (4.5%), tried on own (5.8%) and others (7.7%). Other reasons included economic factors and fear of making the allergy worse. ConclusionsExcluding scheduling issues, OFCs were deferred primarily for reasons of lack of interest in the food and concern for emotional impact or fear of reactions. Excluding scheduling issues, OFCs were deferred primarily for reasons of lack of interest in the food and concern for emotional impact or fear of reactions.