UCC share world’s largest study on food allergies. Can you help?

ANAPHYLAXIS IRELAND SEEKS PARTICIPANTS FOR GLOBAL FOOD ALLERGY STUDY

Research into Severe Allergic Reactions will result in an App to limit Anaphylaxis

The national organisation for people with severe allergies, Anaphylaxis Ireland, is currently recruiting individuals to participate in the world’s largest study on food allergies.

Anaphylaxis Ireland is part of a global team, which also includes University College Cork, selected to participate in this study. Their work will ultimately result in the creation of an online app AlleRiC, which will be used to record accidental allergic reactions.

“We are looking for individuals and families who have experienced allergic reactions to food and who have been diagnosed with a food allergy, to participate in a number of focus groups in Cork (Saturday, 18 May) and Dublin (Saturday, 8 June)”, said Regina Cahill, Anaphylaxis Ireland.  “We will be working on the development of an online app, AlleRiC – Allergic Reactions in the Community. This integrated system will enable researchers to determine how, why, where and when, accidental allergic reactions occur in the community”.

The focus group sessions will discuss individuals and families experiences of food allergies. The focus groups will be facilitated by Dr. Audrey Dunn Galvin, Dept of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, who has done extensive research work on the impact of food allergies.

“Uncertainty is a core theme in living and coping with food allergy and current risk hazard approaches perpetuate this uncertainty”, said Dr. Audrey Dunn Galvin.  “These focus groups will help to create a questionnaire which will be used to develop the AlleRIC app”.

Anaphylaxis Ireland is seeking participants in the following age categories for the focus groups;

o          Children and teens aged between 8 and 16 years;

o          Teens aged between 16 and 18 years;

o          Adults from age 18 + and parents of children and teens aged 8-16 years.

The AlleRiC project is part of a €9 million EU research project which will run for 3 years. The project is to be conducted by leading experts in Ireland, the UK, Europe, Australia and the USA.

The UCC contribution will also integrate the information from Ireland’s first birth cohort study, Baseline, with nine birth cohorts from a previous EU funded Europrevall study. The follow-up of almost 14,000 children aged between five years and seven is the biggest such study ever undertaken and hopes to determine how allergies and asthma evolve from infancy to early childhood.

If you are interested in participating in one of the focus groups please contact us by emailingaistudyinfo@gmail.com   or call 0818 300 238. 

Anaphylaxis Ireland is a national charity which was set up to raise awareness of anaphylaxis and to provide a support network to people at risk and their families.

For further information on Anaphylaxis Ireland and its services please visit www.anaphylaxisireland.ie