Allergy Update: First “real-world” study of preschool peanut oral immunotherapy

A recent study from the University of British Columbia studied preschool peanut oral immunotherapy (P-OIT) in “real-world” settings, like allergists’ offices. The study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, showed that young children who were exposed to a small, consistent dose of peanuts had a significantly reduced allergic reaction. Participants were fed a daily maintenance dose of 300 mg of peanut protein over a year. Results found that P-OIT was safe and effective in 37 preschool-aged children, with 85% being desensitized and 98.3% tolerating peanut protein greater than or equal to 1,000 mg. While this is not the first study to demonstrate the effectiveness of P-OIT, it is the first to study P-OIT’s effectiveness in a real-world, versus clinical or lab, setting.