Differences in familiarity with oral immunotherapy among caregivers of White and Black children with food allergy

Background

Potential racial and ethnic disparities related to oral immunotherapy (OIT) have not been fully described among children with food allergy (FA).

Objective

To characterize the differences in attitudes toward, familiarity with, and utilization of OIT among non-Hispanic White (NHW), non-Hispanic Black (NHB), and Hispanic or Latino (H/L) caregivers of children with FA.

Methods

Surveys were administered to the caregivers of children enrolled in Food Allergy Outcomes Related to White and African American Racial Differences, a prospective, multisite cohort of children with FA. The distribution of responses by caregiver-reported race and ethnicity was described using an analysis of variance for continuous outcomes and χ² tests for categorical outcomes. A logistic regression model was used to determine associations between familiarity with OIT as a treatment option and various other covariates.

Results

The NHB and H/L respondents were more frequently not familiar with OIT compared with NHW responders (54.3% and 62.5% vs 9.2%, P < .001). This finding remained true, even after adjusting for household income (odds ratio: 0.1, 95% CI: 0.1-0.4 for NHB participants and odds ratio: 0.1, 95% CI: 0.0-0.3 for H/L participants). NHB and H/L participants more frequently reported that they had never heard of OIT before the survey compared with NHW participants (76.7% and 50.0% vs 26.7%, P < .001). None of the NHB and H/L respondents initiated OIT compared with 14.8% of NHW participants (P < .001).

Conclusion

In the Food Allergy Outcomes Related to White and African American Racial Differences cohort, familiarity with OIT was lower among caregivers of minoritized racial and ethnic groups, even after adjusting for household income.