Study group characteristics
There were 120 eligible patients diagnosed with TNA during the study period and 88 patients were included in the study, resulting an inclusion rate of 73.3% (Figure 1). Of the questionnaires 73 (83%) were filled by mothers and 15 (17%) by fathers.
From the children, 31 (35.2%) were female and 57 (64.8%) were male. There were 29 (33%) children aged 0-3 years, 37 (42%) children aged 4-6 years, and 22 (25%) children aged 7-12 years. The median age at diagnosis was 12 (IQR 7.25-19.5) months and median months of follow-up was 40 months (10.25–65.75). The most common TNA was hazelnut (72.7%), followed by cashew, pistachio, walnut and almond. From these, 68 (77.3%) had two or more TNAs. In the context of life time, 42 (47.7%) and 5 (5.7%) patients admitted to the emergency department, and required hospitalization due to TNA, respectively. A total of 42 (47.7%) patients had exposed to the food they were allergic to in the last year. A total of 49 (55.7%) and 16 (18.2%) patients had a lifetime and current history of anaphylaxis. The prevalence of ever anaphylaxis was 34.5% in the 0-3 age group, 67.6% in the 4-6 age group, and 63.6% in the 7-12 age group (p=0.019). (Table 1)
Although all patients were prescribed AAIs, only 84.1% of the patients had AAIs. The highest rate of having AAIs among age groups was 97.3% in the 4-6 age group, followed by the 7-12 age group with 81.8% and the 0-3 age group with 69%. A total of 13 (14.8%) patients had to use AAI at least once in their lives due to tree nut allergy (Table 1).