PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The purpose of this review is to highlight several important findings related to the broad topic of pediatric allergic diseases reported over the past year, focusing primarily on asthma, urticaria, food allergy, and vaccine reactions. RECENT FINDINGS: Progress continues to be made in identifying environmental exposures during the first years of life that are important for the development of atopic diseases, including asthma. Interventions are being sought based on these findings, to prevent the development of atopic diseases. Chronic urticaria in children is difficult to manage and there is little data related specifically to children to guide treatment and education. Two reports of large populations of children with chronic urticaria were reported in the past year; one dealing with chronic idiopathic, urticaria and one with acquired cold urticaria. Food allergy continues to increase in prevalence and improvements in diagnosis and management continue. Finally, a report of vaccine anaphylaxis cases among a large database was reported. SUMMARY: Allergic disorders comprise a major component of pediatric practice. Advances continue in understanding the origins and natural history of these disorders and treatments are now available that allow effective management in most cases. Patient and parent education remains key to prevent unnecessary restrictions on these children and ensure optimal treatment success.
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