Infant and Toddler Peanut Oral Immunotherapy: Initiation Before Age 2 Increases Ad Libitum Peanut Consumption

Abstract

Background

Peanut oral immunotherapy (POIT) has promising potential of disease modification, but there are no studies to date evaluating high-dose POIT, leading to ad libitum (ad lib) consumption of peanut products, especially in children 6 months to 4 years of age.

Objective

To report real-world outcomes of high-dose POIT in children 6 months to 4 years of age, including adverse events, achievement of ad lib consumption, and the impact of age on these outcome measures.

Methods

Patients 6 months to 4 years of age with a diagnosis of peanut allergy were enrolled in a POIT protocol with a goal dose of 3000 mg. Demographics along with POIT and clinical outcomes 6 months after POIT are reported.

Results

Sixty children, with a median age of 16 months, started POIT. Three (5%) were lost to follow-up, and 6 (10%) discontinued POIT because of recurrent adverse events or the inability to consume daily peanut protein. Fifty-one (85%) children completed POIT in a median of 7 months and were consuming ad lib peanut products for a duration of 6 months after completion of the POIT protocol. Sixteen (26.7%) children experienced a total of 22 adverse reactions during POIT. Initiating POIT before 24 months of age increased the likelihood of ad lib peanut consumption by an odds ratio of 11.69 (1.19-114.31, P = .035).

Conclusions

Our study demonstrates that high-dose POIT in infants and toddlers is well tolerated and can lead to ad lib introduction of dietary peanut products into the diet, especially if initiated before 2 years of age.