ABOVE: © ISTOCK.COM, GIMMERTON
A treatment for peanut allergies that involves giving children small, oral doses of the allergen appears to desensitize them to peanuts, according to a meta-analysis of 12 clinical trials published yesterday (April 25) in The Lancet. But the intervention was also linked to a two- to threefold higher risk of participants experiencing the severe allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis, compared to those taking a placebo or avoiding peanuts.
“In our study we found that this increase occurred for all preparations of OIT [oral immunotherapy] used and for all protocols,” coauthor Derek Chu of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, tells MedPage Today. “The bottom line is that this therapy is still experimental, and physicians and patients need to understand that.”
Chu and his colleagues gathered data from more than 1,000 kids who participated in the randomized controlled clinical trials. They found that the oral immunotherapy led to ...
