On Easter and Halloween each year, severe allergic reactions to nuts spike in children, according to an analysis of data from emergency rooms across Canada.
鈥淚鈥檓 not so surprised,鈥� says Moshe Ben-Shoshan at McGill University in Canada, who led the study. As a paediatric allergist who regularly works in the emergency room, Ben-Shoshan says he had already noticed that cases of severe allergic reactions among children tended to go up at certain times of the year.
鈥淚 remember these cases of children coming in during Halloween after eating [nut] contaminated chocolate,鈥� he says.
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He and his colleagues used records of emergency room visits to analyse the incidences of nut-induced anaphylaxis 鈥� a severe allergic reaction 鈥� in children across four Canadian provinces, including Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, and British Columbia.
The researchers looked at 1390 cases of anaphylaxis between 2011 and 2020 and found that the majority of cases occured in children under 11 years old, and rates of peanut-triggered anaphylaxis were 85 per cent higher than average on Halloween and 60 per cent higher than average during Easter. They saw a similar trend when they looked at anaphylaxis caused by other nuts.
The team didn鈥檛 find a significant increase in nut-induced allergic reactions during other holidays such as Christmas, Diwali, Chinese New Year and Eid al-Adha.
鈥淗alloween and Easter involve social gatherings with other children in the presence of a lot of candy. These holidays may include interactions with other adults who may not be aware of the child鈥檚 food allergies,鈥� says Tina Sindher at Stanford University in the US, who was not involved in the study. She adds that 鈥渁 lot of 鈥榝un-size鈥� candy may not be labelled appropriately or may contain different ingredients.鈥�
Children with known food allergies should always carry an auto-injectable epi-pen, says Sindher. 鈥淧rimary caregivers should verify with other adults in the group or the child鈥檚 friends that they understand the child鈥檚 food allergies and what to do in case of an emergency,鈥� she says.
Canadian Medical Association Journal
