Opinion: The information vacuum around allergies and asthma in Asian American children

At our allergy clinic a couple of years ago, we saw a 9-month-old Filipino boy whose skin was completely blanketed with eczema. Pus seeped from raw, open sores where he scratched too much. He was already diagnosed with cashew and peanut allergies, and he was seeing us after an emergency room visit for a reaction to hummus. It was difficult to console his parents. Worse still, patients like this infant are becoming increasingly common. 

Allergies are becoming more prevalent in the United States and around the world. One in 13 children — 5.6 million — in the U.S. has food allergies, resulting in more than 200,000 emergency room visits each year. Meanwhile, rates of asthma have increased dramatically over the past 40 years. It’s well established that Black children, compared with white children, have higher rates of eczema, food allergies, asthma, and allergic rhinitis (hay fever), and Hispanics have higher rates of food allergies and asthma. But less is known about allergic conditions in Asian Americans. 

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