Thanita Glancey is the mother of three children, the youngest of whom, Vicky, has life threatening allergies. Thanita runs a food allergy blog called Vicky's Ickies and works hard to keep on top of Vicky's allergies and the latest food allergy research.

She attended the recent FAAN conference in Baltimore and included some very interesting statistics from a presentation at the conference in her blog:

1. The emotional impact of food allergies varies by developmental stages
   
2. By as young as age 7, a food allergic child understands his/her's own mortality
   
3. 54% of food allergic children between the ages of 13-21 knowingly ingest their allergen just to "fit in"
   
4. Food allergic children between the ages of 13-21 considers social isolation worse than death
   
5. 39% of food allergic children between the ages of 13-21 admit to not carry their life saving epinephrine
   
6. Fatalities among food allergic children between the ages of 13-21 are more common
   

What, she asks, is the significance of the statistics? The child will shift from fearing death to just fearing social isolation. It shows that continuing to exclude and socially isolate food allergic children while at the elementary school level will contribute to the rise of risk taking behavior when the child enters middle school.

First published in April 2004

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