Asian American children at higher risk of allergies

A new study from Stanford University revealed that while Asian American children are 40 percent more likely to have allergies, Filipino, Vietnamese and Native Hawaiians and Pacific islanders are the most vulnerable.

StatNews reports researchers looked at 500,000 Asian American children with a focus on eczema, food allergy, asthma, and allergic rhinitis.

They found that Filipino children were two times more likely than their White counterparts to develop allergic rhinitis and asthma, nearly four times as likely to develop eczema, and almost five times as likely to develop food allergies. 

Multi-racial Asians also showed a higher tendency to develop all four conditions.

The exact reason for higher rates among Vietnamese and Filipino children is not yet known, but researchers are exploring immigration patterns, diet and acculturation status as possibilities.

“Existing allergy research often overlooks Asian Americans or treats them as a monolith,” said Dr. Charles Feng, the study’s lead author. “That’s why solving this mystery, which is ultimately a problem of health inequity, feels so urgent.”

Dr. Ruchi Gupta is a pediatrician and allergist from Northwestern University. He believes differences among various groups goes beyond just genetics. He says the sudden spike in allergies over the last few decades is too short of a time period for any genetic changes to take place.

Rates among Asian Americans range from 2.9% among Indian American youth to 8.2% among Filipinos. The overall children rate in the U.S. is 5.8%. More work needs to be done to examine the role of cultural practices and cooking methods on the impact on allergy rates.

“Studying Asian Americans might uncover the missing link to rising allergy rates for all children,” Gupta said.