Increasing rate of hospitalizations for food-induced anaphylaxis in Italian children: an analysis of the Italian Ministry of Health database.

emerged regarding other day-to-day issues. Physicians were overall misinformed about the availability of epinephrine in both restaurants and ambulances. When questioned regarding quality of life, only 10% of family practitioners and 31% of pediatricians believed that ‘‘severe allergies’’ have a major impact on quality of life. This differs markedly from results of previous studies about patients’ perceptions regarding the effects of food allergy on quality of life.10 More pediatric A/I specialists (78%) than others (P 5 .03) believed that life-threatening allergic reactions today are more common than 10 years ago, consistent with published data,11 and most physicians in all groups recognized that asthma is a risk factor for severe reactions. Similar to our surveys of patients and the general public, this study clearly demonstrates the need for ongoing education regarding anaphylaxis. As with previous studies, knowledge gaps are especially apparent for primary care and emergency physicians, who are most often the physicians on the front line in the treatment of this common and life-threatening condition.