Kids with asthma may also have peanut allergies.
If your child has asthma and suffers from frequent attacks, it may be worth it to have them tested for peanut allergies, according to a new study. Researchers have found that many children with asthma also suffer from peanut allergies without knowing it, since the symptoms of an allergic reaction and an asthma attack can be so similar.
The study, led by Dr. Robert Cohn, director of Pulmonary Medicine at Dayton Children's Hospital in Ohio, examined data from 1,517 children who had visited the pulmonary clinic at Mercy Children's Hospital in Toledo and been diagnosed with asthma. Only 11 percent of these children were aware beforehand that they had a peanut allergy, but when 665 of them were called back for a blood test, 22 percent of that group tested positive for an allergy to peanuts. More than half of the 22 percent had never suspected that they might be sensitive to peanuts before.
According to Cohn, this result is especially important because there are certain asthma medications that may have adverse effects in children who are allergic to peanuts. Moreover, according to a 2010 study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, children with both asthma and peanut allergies are twice as likely to be hospitalized as children with asthma without peanut allergies.
"Children with asthma might not be recognized as having a peanut sensitivity," Cohn said in an email to TIME Magazine. "Parents of children with asthma should understand that there may be asthma medicines that are not advised in children with peanut allergies."
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