The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics issued briefs regarding the statistics of seasonal allergy, food allergy, and eczema prevalence in 2021, according to an article published in HealthDay. Briefs were issued for the prevalence of allergic conditions in both children (aged 0 to 17 years) and adults (aged 18 years and older).
The CDC reported that 18.9% of children and 25.7% of adults had seasonal allergies. Male children were more likely to have seasonal allergies than female children (20% vs 17.7%); and non-Hispanic White adults were more likely to have seasonal allergies than Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic Asian adults. For food allergies, the CDC noted that 5.8% of children and 6.2% of adults were allergic to some foods—and that non-Hispanic Black children were more likely to have food allergies than Hispanic or non-Hispanic White children. Additionally, older adults were less likely to have food allergies than younger adults.
The CDC explained that 10.8% of children and 7.3% of adults had some form of eczema. Among children, variations in the prevalence of eczema were identified by age—10.4% of children aged 0 to 5 years, 12.1% of children aged 6 to 11 years, and 9.8% of children aged 12 to 17 years had eczema. Further, female adults were found to have eczema more frequently than male adults (8.9% vs 5.7%).