Temporal, Age, and Racial and Ethnic Trends in Allergen Consumption from 2-Day 24-Hour Recalls, NHANES 2003-2023.

Background: Recommendations for food allergy prevention have shifted from delayed allergen introduction during infancy to early oral exposure. Little is known about population-wide allergen consumption patterns in the United States.

Objective: To examine peanut, egg, and tree nut consumption over time, by age, race and ethnicity from 2003 to 2023 using nationally representative data.

Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists in Asthma Exacerbations: An Application of High-Dimensional Iterative Causal Forest to Identify Subgroups.

Background: Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists (GLP1RA) may reduce asthma exacerbation (AE) risk, but it is unclear which populations benefit most. Recent pharmacoepidemiologic studies have employed iterative causal forest (iCF), a machine learning (ML) algorithm, to identify subgroups with heterogeneous treatment effects (HTEs). While iCF does not rely on prior knowledge of treatment-variable interactions, it may be constrained by missing or poorly defined variables in pharmacoepidemiologic studies.

Baseline basophil activation and early suppression is associated with clinical outcome after peanut sublingual immunotherapy.

Background: Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) was recently shown to safely induce desensitization and remission of peanut allergy in 1- to 4-year-old children.

Objective: Basophil activation has been shown to be suppressed in allergen-specific immunotherapy. We aimed to evaluate the timing of basophil suppression during peanut SLIT and its impact on clinical outcomes.

Moving to lower-poverty neighborhoods offers broad benefits for children with asthma, regardless of sex or other baseline characteristics.

Background: It was previously found that moving to lower-poverty/higher-opportunity neighborhoods as part of a housing mobility program was associated with improvements in asthma exacerbations and symptoms among children with asthma. Whether some subsets of children with asthma experience a greater improvement in asthma morbidity after moving is unknown.

Objective: Our aim was to determine whether the benefits of moving to lower-poverty/higher-opportunity neighborhoods were concentrated in subsets of participants with asthma.

Indoor allergen exposure and its association to upper respiratory infections and pulmonary outcomes among children with asthma.

Background: Certain environmental allergen exposures are more common in disadvantaged communities and may contribute to differences in susceptibility to upper respiratory infections (URIs).

Objectives: We examined associations between indoor allergens and: (1) URI; (2) URI + cold symptoms; (3) URI + cold symptoms + pulmonary eosinophilic inflammation (fraction of exhaled nitric oxide ≥20 ppb); and (4) URI + cold symptoms + reduced lung function (percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second of <80%).

Methods: We used data from the Environmental Control as Add-on Therapy for Childhood Asthma (ECATCh) study.

Associations between cord blood acetaminophen biomarkers and childhood asthma with and without allergic comorbidities.

Background: Previous studies have linked prenatal acetaminophen use to increased asthma risk in children. However, none have explored this association while differentiating between asthma cases with and without other allergic conditions or by employing objective biomarkers to assess acetaminophen exposure.

Objective: To evaluate whether the detection of acetaminophen biomarkers in cord blood is associated with the subgroups of asthma both with and without allergic comorbidities in children.

Desensitization and remission after peanut sublingual immunotherapy in 1- to 4-year-old peanut-allergic children: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Prior studies of peanut sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) have suggested a potential advantage with younger age at treatment initiation.

Objective: We studied the safety and efficacy of SLIT for peanut allergy in 1- to 4-year-old children.

Methods: Peanut-allergic 1- to 4-year-old children were randomized to receive 4 mg peanut SLIT versus placebo.

Associations between serum per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and asthma morbidity in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003-18).

Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of chemicals widely used in manufacturing and are highly resistant to degradation, so they accumulate in the environment. Serum concentrations of these so-called forever chemicals have been associated with impairment of innate and adaptive immune responses. The relationship between serum PFAS levels and asthma morbidity has not been studied.

Association of a Housing Mobility Program With Childhood Asthma Symptoms and Exacerbations.

Importance: Structural racism has been implicated in the disproportionally high asthma morbidity experienced by children living in disadvantaged, urban neighborhoods. Current approaches designed to reduce asthma triggers have modest impact.

Objective: To examine whether participation in a housing mobility program that provided housing vouchers and assistance moving to low-poverty neighborhoods was associated with reduced asthma morbidity among children and to explore potential mediating factors.

Open-label study of the efficacy, safety, and durability of peanut sublingual immunotherapy in peanut-allergic children.

Background: Studies on the efficacy of peanut sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) are limited. The durability of desensitization after SLIT has not been well described.

Objective: We sought to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 4-mg peanut SLIT and persistence of desensitization after SLIT discontinuation.

Comparative effectiveness of omalizumab, mepolizumab, and dupilumab in asthma: A target trial emulation.

Background: Multiple mAbs are currently approved for the treatment of asthma. However, there is limited evidence on their comparative effectiveness.

Objective: Our aim was to compare the effectiveness of omalizumab, mepolizumab, and dupilumab in individuals with moderate-to-severe asthma.

Indoor environmental exposures and obstructive lung disease phenotypes among children with asthma living in poor urban neighborhoods.

Background: Air trapping is an obstructive phenotype that has been associated with more severe and unstable asthma in children. Air trapping has been defined using pre- and postbronchodilator spirometry. The causes of air trapping are not completely understood.

Comprehensive home environmental intervention did not reduce allergen concentrations or controller medication requirements among children in Baltimore.

Objective: To determine if the addition of home environmental control strategies (ECSs) to controller medication titration reduces asthma controller medication requirements and in-home allergen concentrations among children with persistent asthma in Baltimore City.

Methods: 155 children ages 5-17 with allergen-sensitized asthma were enrolled in a 6-month randomized clinical trial of multifaceted, individually-tailored ECS plus asthma controller medication titration compared to controller medication titration alone. Participants had to meet criteria for persistent asthma and have had an exacerbation in the previous 18 months.

Preventing allergies through the skin.

Objective: To inform readers of the current and forthcoming skin barrier interventions that have clinically relevant implications in the prevention of allergic sensitization and atopic diseases.

Data Sources: Peer-reviewed journal articles indexed on PubMed and clinical trials referenced on clinicaltrials.gov were analyzed.

The year in food allergy.

Research into food allergy continues to rapidly evolve, accompanying and driving real changes in the clinical approach to these diseases. The past year has seen the rollout of the first treatment approved for active management of food allergy, more data on alternative methods of treatment, the continued evolution of strategies for prevention of food allergy, a renewed interest in phenotyping food allergy subtypes, and, importantly, key new insights into the pathophysiology of food allergy. We expect that in the coming years, the therapies that are in preclinical or early clinical evaluation now will make their way to the clinic, finally allowing the possibility of safe and effective treatments for food allergy.