Study: Children with asthma may also have undiagnosed peanut allergies

An asthma inhaler.
(Image credit: David McNew/Getty Images)

A new study suggests that children who have asthma might not realize they also have a peanut allergy, since symptoms for both conditions — including shortness of breath, wheezing, and coughing — are so similar.

Researchers looked at the records of 1,500 children from the pediatric respiratory clinic at Toledo's Mercy Children's Hospital and found that 1 in 10 tested positive for peanut sensitivity, but 53 percent of the children and their families did not know or suspect they might have an allergy.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.