People more fatal than food for allergy sufferers

Food allergy sufferers are more likely to die at the hands of a fellow human being than a stray peanut, a new study has shown.

Those with a food allergy have a 1.81 in a million chance of dying from anaphylaxis, compared with an 11 in a million chance of being murdered, an Imperial College London study shows.

For children and young people aged 0 to 19, the risk of dying from anaphylaxis is slightly higher, at 3.25 in a million. Death from accidental causes comes in at 324 in a million over a year.

“Everyone has heard stories of people who have died suddenly from a severe allergic reaction, and these stories are frightening. But events like this appear to be very rare, and it’s helpful to put that risk in perspective,” said Dr Robert Boyle from the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial, who led the study.

“We don’t want to belittle the concerns of people with food allergies or their families, and of course people should continue to take reasonable precautions. That said, we want to reassure them that having a food allergy makes a very small difference to someone’s overall risk of death.

“Worrying about severe allergic reactions can take a huge toll on someone’s quality of life. We should address anxiety and quality of life for food-allergic people and their carers, rather than just focus on the risk of death.”

The study is published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy.

The above figures are based on the risk of death in one year in Europe. The risk of murder in one year is 40 in a million in the US.