May

27

Allergies and Depression

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A new study presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting concludes that there may be a link between those who suffer from allergies and depression. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore studied 100 volunteers who suffered from depression. It’s not surprising that those who had allergies had increased depression during allergy season, but even those that did not suffer pollen allergy symptoms but showed immune responses in their blood also experienced increased levels of depression.

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May

17

Worst Cities For Asthma 2010

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The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America rates cities every year and comes up with a list of the 100 worst cities for those with asthma. When ranking what it calls the Allergy Capitals the foundation focuses on three factors; prevalence factors, risk factors and medical factors. Some cities on the list were hurt by having poor anti-smoking laws others suffer from their naturally high pollen counts due to geographic location.

If you suffer from asthma and allergies and are planning a trip you may want to have a look at the list to see if the city appears.

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May

13

Reported Peanut Allergies More Than Tripled Since 1997

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A new study released by Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York shows that peanut allergies are growing at an alarming rate among children. The study conducted telemarketing surveys in 1997, 2002, 2008 using the same formula to collect data. In 1997 only .06% of survey participants reported tree or peanut allergies, that number increased to 2.1% when participants responded to the same question in 2008.

Lead Researcher Dr. Scott H. Sicherer

“Although the study has limitations as it is a self-report survey, the results are in line with recent studies of peanut allergy from Canada, the U.K., and Australia that currently estimate more than 1 percent of children have peanut allergy.”

Many younger children will be fortunate enough to out grow their Peanut allergy symptoms. These symptoms can range from being a very minor annoyance to deadly depending upon the severity. A report like this if very hard to gauge because peanut allergies may not be increasing but rather the awareness of peanut allergies in children, thanks to more allergy education.