By Jason Cruz
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

A recent study has found that Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) children have a higher risk than their white peers of developing allergic conditions, like asthma, food allergies, and eczema.

The study, “Allergic disease prevalence among Asian American children in Northern California,” was published in the August 2024 edition of the Journal of Allergic Clinical Immunology Practice. The study is the first of its kind to use real-world clinical data to look at the prevalence of allergies in distinct Asian American ethnic groups, and aims to address the otherwise gaping lack of allergy data to guide parents and medical practitioners in treating these children.

Dr. Jonathan Feng of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Dr. Anna Chen Arroyo were two of the medical doctors who contributed to the medical journal study that addressed these issues.

“Once these allergic kids are identified, it is important to treat them,” Feng said. “If they are babies with eczema, it is very important to introduce allergenic foods such as eggs and peanuts very early on in life (as tolerated, between the ages of 4-11 months),” Feng continued. “If they have environmental allergies or asthma, there are many ways we can treat these children, including with medications, avoidance measures, and allergy immunotherapy (i.e., allergy shots).”

Arroyo said that even though the AAPI population is one of the fastest-growing populations in the country, physicians and researchers still know very little about allergic diseases in AAPIs, especially within Asian American ethnic groups.

The study’s findings were more specific than just “Asian” and parsed out ethnic groups. Feng noted that children’s allergy risks are heightened if they are Vietnamese, Filipino, multiracial AAPI, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander. 

While Feng, Arroyo, and their associates provided more depth to the medical community, Arroyo believes there could be more to look into.

“It’s unclear why specific Asian American ethnic groups (e.g., Filipino children) are more likely to have certain allergic diseases such as eczema and food allergies,” she said. “We plan to explore these underlying factors further in future studies.”

The need for a study addressing allergies in Asian American children is evident, Arroyo explained.

“I work in Mountain View, California, the home of Google and a lot of tech companies. As a result, a lot of my patients are Asian American,” Dr. Feng explained. “I was seeing that a ton of them have various allergic conditions, including seasonal allergies, food allergies, asthma, and eczema. However, when I looked at the literature, there was a dearth of information on Asian American children, particularly Asian subgroups (Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc.).”

For Feng, the study was “personal”: His son used to have a soy allergy, and his daughter has developed hay fever.

Even if parents aren’t sure whether their child is allergic to anything, there are factors they can keep an eye out for, said Dr. Charles Anderson, the Vice Chair for Pediatrics at Washington State University. For instance, he said, asthma—which can be diagnosed as early as age 5—typically starts between the ages of 3-5, and often presents as a dry cough and wheezing.

Dr. Jeffrey Gibbs, the chief health officer at International Community Health Services (ICHS), added that asthma can also cause shortness of breath.

“If a child gets a cold and has a lot more coughing and wheezing, that’s a clue,” he said.

While individual asthma episodes can go away on their own, Gibbs said, he advised that parents take their children to a medical provider to document any history of coughing and wheezing.

“Asthma can be treated,” he said.

Dr. Gibbs emphasized that parents must be detailed and vigilant in working with medical providers about their children.

“There needs to be a level of suspicion and alertness,” he explained, regarding parents being upfront with a medical provider about their children’s symptoms.

Anderson explained that diagnosing asthma in children is dependent on a variety of factors, including family history and environmental factors, such as mold, dust, and pet dander. He also noted the need for more studies in this realm.

Gibbs said that overall, childhood asthma is not common amongst ICHS patients, but that it still does show up. As Feng and Arroyo found, Gibbs noted that the Filipino population has a much higher overall incidence of asthma. However, he said, there is a lower incidence in Koreans. This points to the need for researchers and physicians to remember that there is quite a bit of variability within AAPI populations. He also said that, with Asian populations, language barriers could prevent parents from bringing in their children. For this reason, because of the diverse population it serves, ICHS provides language services in about 70 languages.

Arroyo said that the 2024 study helps to shine a light on why recognizing diversity is so important when it comes to treating health conditions.

“It is important for the health care community to understand that there is significant heterogeneity in allergic disease prevalence among the Asian American community in order to appropriately diagnose and treat patients from these distinct Asian American communities,” she said.

Jason can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.

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