Lu Stephanie K, Elliott Susan J, Clarke Ann E
School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1.
Department of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada T2N 1N4.
J Allergy (Cairo). 2014;2014:964504. doi: 10.1155/2014/964504. Epub 2014 Jun 4.
Introduction. In Canada, perceived prevalence of food allergy surpasses systematic estimates. Canadian immigrants have been found more likely to rate the risk of food allergy as "high" compared to nonimmigrants. Methods. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 3 key informants and 18 allergic individuals of East and Southeast Asian descent in order to capture their lived experience with food allergies. Results. Participants found food allergies to be more common in Canada than in Asia. Participants also agreed that having a food allergy is more manageable in Canada as a result of the policy environment (e.g., food labelling and school policies). In addition, participants had dealt with skepticism and disbelief about their food allergy in Asia, resulting in social exclusion and impacting quality of life. Discussion. Findings demonstrate the need to recognize the varied impacts and experiences of food allergy among new Canadians, given that immigrants represent a large and growing proportion of the Canadian population.
引言。在加拿大，人们感知到的食物过敏患病率超过了系统估计值。研究发现，与非移民相比，加拿大移民更有可能将食物过敏风险评为“高”。方法。对3名关键信息提供者和18名东亚和东南亚裔过敏个体进行了定性访谈，以了解他们食物过敏的生活经历。结果。参与者发现食物过敏在加拿大比在亚洲更常见。参与者还一致认为，由于政策环境（如食品标签和学校政策），在加拿大应对食物过敏更容易。此外，参与者在亚洲曾遭遇对其食物过敏的怀疑和不信任，导致社会排斥并影响生活质量。讨论。研究结果表明，鉴于移民在加拿大人口中所占比例很大且不断增长，有必要认识到新加拿大人中食物过敏的各种影响和经历。
