Allergy Facts (original) (raw)

Allergy Facts and Figures

An allergy occurs when the body’s immune system sees a substance as harmful and overreacts to it.

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What Is an Allergy?

• An allergy is when your immune system reacts to a foreign substance, called an allergen. This reaction causes specific clinical symptoms. The allergen could be something you eat, inhale into your lungs, inject into your body, or touch.
• An allergic reaction can cause coughing, sneezing, hives, rashes, itchy eyes, a runny nose, swelling, and a scratchy throat. In severe cases, it can cause low blood pressure, breathing trouble, asthma attacks, and even death if not treated promptly and appropriately.
• There is no cure for allergies. You can manage allergies with proper education, prevention, and medical treatment.
• Allergies are among the country’s most common, but overlooked, diseases.

How Common Are Allergies?

• More than 100 million people in the U.S. experience various types of allergies each year. Common examples include seasonal allergies, eczema, and food allergies.1,2
• Nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults and more than 1 in 4 U.S. children have a seasonal allergy, eczema, or food allergy. 1,2

How Many People Seek Medical Care for Allergies?

• Allergic conditions are one of the most common health issues affecting children in the U.S.3
• Each year in the U.S., it is estimated that anaphylaxis (a severe allergic reaction) to food results in 90,000 emergency room visits.4

How Many People Die from Allergies?

• The most common triggers for anaphylaxis are medicines, food, and insect stings.5 Medicines cause most allergy-related deaths.6
• Older adults in the U.S. have the highest rates of death due to allergic reactions to medicines, food, or unknown allergens.6

What Are the Costs of Allergies?

• The cost of nasal allergies is between 3billionand3 billion and 3billionand4 billion each year.7
• Food allergies cost about $25 billion each year.8

What Are Indoor and Outdoor Allergies?

• Indoor and outdoor allergies can lead to sinus swelling/pain, itchy/watery eyes, runny nose, nasal congestion, and sneezing. Airborne allergens can cause seasonal (sometimes called “hay fever”) or perennial (called “constant” “persistent”) allergies.
• Many people with allergies often have more than one type of allergy. The most common indoor/outdoor allergy triggers are: tree pollen, grass pollen, weed pollen, mold spores, dust mites, cockroaches, cat and dog dander, and rodent dander.

How Common Are Seasonal Allergies?

• In 2021, approximately 81 million people in the U.S. were diagnosed with seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever). This equals around 26% (67 million) of adults and 19% (14 million) of children.1,2
• Seasonal allergic rhinitis is an allergic reaction to pollen from trees, grasses, and weeds. This type of rhinitis occurs mainly when pollen from trees (spring), grasses (summer), and weeds (fall) are in the air.
• In 2021, non-Hispanic Black children and non-Hispanic White children were more likely to have a seasonal allergy than Hispanic and non-Hispanic Asian children.2
• The same triggers for indoor/outdoor allergies can also cause eye allergies (allergic conjunctivitis).

How Common Are Skin Allergies?

Skin allergies include skin inflammation, eczema, hives, chronic hives, and contact allergies. Plants like poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac are the most common skin contact allergy triggers and cause symptoms a few days after exposure. Skin contact with metals (such as nickel), hair dyes, preservatives, fragrances, sunscreens, cockroaches and dust mites, certain foods, and/or latex may also cause skin allergy symptoms.9

• In 2021, 8 million children had eczema.2
  • Children ages 6 to 11 are most likely to have eczema.2
  • In 2021, non-Hispanic Black children in the U.S. were more likely to have eczema than children of other races and ethnicities.2
• Chronic hives affect about 1% of the global population.10
  • Children have higher rates of chronic hives than adults.10
  • Among people ages 15 and over, females are more likely to have chronic hives than males. 10
• Contact allergies affect about 1 in 5 people.11
  • Females are more likely to have contact allergies than males.11
  • The most common causes of contact allergies are nickel, certain plants, fragrance, cobalt, and other chemical compounds found in personal care products.11

How Common Are Food Allergies?

Nine foods cause most food allergy reactions. They are milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nut, fish, shellfish, wheat, soy, and sesame.

• As of 2021, about 20 million people have food allergies in the U.S.1,2
  • About 16 million (6.2%) U.S. adults have food allergies.1
  • About 4 million (5.8%) U.S. children have food allergies.2
• In 2021, 7.6% of non-Hispanic Black children had food allergies, compared to 5.3% of non-Hispanic White children.2
  • Food allergy has increased among U.S. children over the past 20 years, with the greatest increase in Black children.12
• Milk is the most common allergen for children, followed by egg and peanut.13
• Shellfish is the most common allergen for adults, followed by peanut and tree nut.13
• Sesame is a rising food allergy. It impacts an estimated 1 million people in the United States.14 It was declared a major allergen in the United States in 2021.

How Common Are Drug Allergies?

• Around 5 to 10% of adverse reactions to drugs are from allergic reactions.15
• Adverse drug reactions account for 3% to 6% of all hospital admissions worldwide. These reactions can occur in 10 to 15% of hospitalized patients and can result in a long hospital stay with an increased risk of death.16
• The most commonly reported drug allergy is to penicillin, with up to 10% of people saying they are allergic to this type of drug. However, less than 10% of these people (or less than 1% of the total population) are actually allergic to penicillin drugs when evaluated for these allergies.17

How Common Is Latex Allergy?

• About 4.3% of the general population has a latex allergy.18
• Latex allergy is more common in certain occupations, especially with frequent use and exposure to powdered latex gloves (such as health care and dental workers). Approximately 9.7% of health care workers have a latex allergy.18

How Common Is Insect Allergy?

People who have insect allergies are often allergic to stings from bees (such as honeybees and bumble bees), wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, and ants (such as fire ants). Cockroaches and dust mites may also cause nasal or skin allergy symptoms.

• Insect sting allergies affect about 5% of the general population.19
• Around 72 deaths occur each year in the United States due to insect sting anaphylaxis.20

Medical Review: April 2024 by John M. James, MD

References​

1. Ng, A.E. & Boersma, P. (2023). NCHS Data Brief, no 460: Diagnosed allergic conditions in adults: United States, 2021. National Center for Health Statistics. https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:122809
2. Zablotsky, B., Black, L.I., & Akinbami, L.J.(2023). NCHS Data Brief, no 459: Diagnosed allergic conditions in children aged 0-17 years: United States, 2021. National Center for Health Statistics. https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:123250
3. American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. (2023). Allergy Facts.https://acaai.org/news/facts-statistics/allergies
4. Clark, S., Espinola, J., Rudders, S. A., Banerji, A., & Camargo, C. A. (2011). Frequency of US emergency department visits for food-related acute allergic reactions. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 127(3), 682–683. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2010.10.040
5. Wood, R. A., Camargo, C. A., Lieberman, P., Sampson, H. A., Schwartz, L. B., Zitt, M., Collins, C., Tringale, M., Wilkinson, M., Boyle, J., & Simons, F. E. R. (2014). Anaphylaxis in America: the prevalence and characteristics of anaphylaxis in the United States. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 133(2), 461–467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2013.08.016
6. Turner, P. J., Jerschow, E., Umasunthar, T., Lin, R., Campbell, D. E., & Boyle, R. J. (2017). Fatal Anaphylaxis: Mortality Rate and Risk Factors. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, 5(5), 1169–1178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaip.2017.06.031
7. Tkacz, J. P., Rance, K., Waddell, D., Aagren, M., & Hammerby, E. (2021). Real-World Evidence Costs of Allergic Rhinitis and Allergy Immunotherapy in the Commercially Insured United States Population. Current Medical Research and Opinion, 37(6), 957–965. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007995.2021.1903848
8. Gupta, R., Holdford, D., Bilaver, L., Dyer, A., Holl, J. L., & Meltzer, D. (2013). The Economic Impact of Childhood Food Allergy in the United States. JAMA Pediatrics, 167(11), 1026. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.2376
9. Murphy, P. B., Hooten, J. N., Atwater, A. R., & Gossman, W. (2019, July 26). Allergic Contact Dermatitis. National Institutes of Health; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532866/
10. Fricke, J., Ávila, G., Keller, T., Weller, K., Lau, S., Maurer, M., Zuberbier, T., & Keil, T. (2019). Prevalence of chronic urticaria in children and adults across the globe: Systematic review with meta‐analysis. Allergy, 75(2), 423–432. https://doi.org/10.1111/all.14037
11. Alinaghi, F., Bennike, N. H., Egeberg, A., Thyssen, J. P., & Johansen, J. D. (2018). Prevalence of contact allergy in the general population: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Contact Dermatitis, 80(2), 77–85. https://doi.org/10.1111/cod.13119
12. Gupta, R. S., Warren, C. M., Smith, B. M., Blumenstock, J. A., Jiang, J., Davis, M. M., & Nadeau, K. C. (2018). The Public Health Impact of Parent-Reported Childhood Food Allergies in the United States. Pediatrics, 142(6). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-1235
13. Iweala, O. I., Choudhary, S. K., & Commins, S. P. (2018). Food Allergy. Current Gastroenterology Reports, 20(5), 17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11894-018-0624-y
14. Warren, C. M., Chadha, A. S., Sicherer, S. H., Jiang, J., & Gupta, R. S. (2019). Prevalence and Severity of Sesame Allergy in the United States. JAMA Network Open, 2(8), e199144. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.9144
15. American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology. (2021). Medications and Drug Allergic Reactions. https://www.aaaai.org/tools-for-the-public/conditions-library/allergies/medications-and-drug-allergic-reactions
16. Thong, B. Y-H., & Tan, T.-C. (2011). Epidemiology and risk factors for drug allergy. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 71(5), 684–700. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2125.2010.03774.x
17. Patterson, R. & Stankewicz, H. (2022). Penicillin Allergy. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459320/
18. Nucera, E., Aruanno, A., Rizzi, A., & Centrone, M. (2020). Latex Allergy: Current Status and Future Perspectives. Journal of Asthma and Allergy, 13, 385–398. https://doi.org/10.2147/JAA.S242058
19. Ludman, S. W., & Boyle, R. J. (2015). Stinging Insect Allergy: Current Perspectives on Venom Immunotherapy. Journal of Asthma and Allergy, 8, 75–86. https://doi.org/10.2147/JAA.S62288
20. American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. (2023). Insect Sting Allergies. https://acaai.org/allergies/types/insect-sting-allergy

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