Investigation of nut allergy, frequency and clinical characteristics in children under 5 years old WHO applied to Çukurova Üniversity pediatric allergy outpatient clinic

Introduction and purpose: Nut allergies, which are among food allergies, are quite common in our country, affected by frequent production and consumption habits. Nut allergies can occur in a variety of ways, from symptoms such as mild urticaria to severe clinical manifestations such as anaphylaxis. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the demographic, clinical and laboratory findings of children under the age of 5 who applied to Çukurova University, Balcalı Hospital, Pediatric Allergy and Immunology outpatient clinic. Materials and Methods: In this study we recorded 85 pediatrics patients demographic information, detailed allergy history, and skin prick test dimensions as additional laboratory findings, eosinophil count, basophil count, Total immunoglobulin E and specific immunoglobulin E values between January 2017 – December 2021. Data were analyzed with SPSS (version 26.0) package program. Results: The mean age of 85 patients included in the study was 30 months, 35 female and 50 male. Of the 85 patients included in the study, 29 (34.1%) had allergies to a single nut and 56 (65.1%) had allergies to more than one nut. Sensitivity to 211 nuts was detected in 85 patients. Of the patients, 55 had hazelnut, 24 had walnut, 51 had pistachio, 25 had almond, 28 had cashew, 28 had peanut allergy. Considering other food allergies accompanying nut allergy; 38 (44%) of the patients had cow's milk allergy and 22 (25%) had egg allergy. The complaints of patients with nut allergy were skin findings in 63%, gastrointestinal system findings in 8%, respiratory findings in 14%, angioedema in 7%, and anaphylaxis in 7%. There was no history of allergic disease in 43% of the patients. 40% had atopic dermatitis, 10% had asthma, 4.7% had allergic rhinitis, 1.2% had anaphylaxis. 17% of our patients had sensitization with aeroallergens. Pollen allergy was detected in 8 patients (9.4%) and sensitization by house dust mite 7 (8.2%). Conclusion: In our study, the most common causes of allergy in nut allergies were observed with hazelnut with a rate of 26% and with pistachio with a rate of 24%, consistent with the data of our country. In our study, allergies to more than one nut were detected in %65 of our 85 patients. 211 nut allergy detected in our 85 patients. The majority of these were IgE-mediated allergies. As high as 40% of the patients had a history of atopic dermatitis. Tolerance developed in only 9.4% of the patients. Tolerance developed in more than 24 months in 75% of those who developed tolerance. The findings of our study regarding nut allergies were consistent with the studies in the literature. However, we also had some different results. This situation was thought to be due to some limitations in our study. Keywords: Nut allergy, food allergy, tree nut allergy