An epidemiological survey on food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis in kindergartners, schoolchildren and junior high school students.

A questionnaire survey was conducted on Food-dependent Exercise-induced Anaphylaxis (FEA) among 11.647 children in 11 kindergartens. Eleven elementary schools and five junior high schools of a city with the cooperation of school personnel. The incidence of FEA was 0% in the kindergartens. 0.06% in the elementary schools and 0.21% in the junior high schools. If severe urticaria is included in the criteria for FEA, the latter appears to be more common than has been reported up till now. The longest intervals between eating and onset of the symptoms, and between the start of exercise and the onset of the symptoms were three and half hours, and fifty minutes, respectively. Therefore, attention should be paid for three to four hours after eating, when children exercise. Since only 31.1% of the teachers had heard of FEA, more information about FEA should be given to them.