Reliable peanut allergy statistics are not that easy to come by. There is a lot of available research on food allergies in general but not too many studies have been done on peanut allergy alone. The internet is littered with hair-raising numbers about peanut allergy and other nut allergies but close examination may reveal that these statistics have been extrapolated or taken from studies with non-representative sample sizes.
Whether you think that prevalent statistics overstate or understate the problem, the important things to remember are:
Here are a few peanut-allergy related statistics accompanied by links to their sources. We encourage you to follow the links for a better understanding of the problem.
- Peanut allergy is one of the "Big 8" food allergies that account for 90% of those suffered by 21 million Americans. (AAAAI and FAAN)
- More than 3 million people in the United States report being allergic to peanuts, tree nuts or both. (AAAAI)
- Approximately 1% of the U.S. population has a peanut allergy (Sicherer, SH, "Prevalence of peanut and tree nut allergy in the US...")
- Less than 21% of patients with peanut allergy will outgrow it. (AAAAI)
- Peanut Allergy is the most common cause of food related death (AAFA).
- Four out of every 100 children have a food allergy. (CDC/NCHS Study, "Food Allergy Among U.S. Children...")
- From 1997 to 2007, the prevalence of reported food allergy increased 18% among children under age 18 years. (CDC/NCHS Study, "Food Allergy Among U.S. Children...")
- From 2004 to 2006, there were an average of 9,537 hospital discharges per year with a diagnosis related to food allergy among children 0 to 17 years. (CDC/NCHS Study, "Food Allergy Among U.S. Children...")
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