Abstract
A questionnaire survey on the present state of oral food challenge tests(OFC) was conducted for 134 pediatricians in Hiroshima where is one of local areas having few allergic specialists in Japan between April to May in 2009. The ratio of pediatricians performing OFC in respondents was 22.4%, which was lower than that in the national survey of Japan, especially in the pediatricians working in clinic offices. Almost of OFC were performed at outpatient rather than in admission setting. The main reasons why OFC were not performed were lack of inpatients' ward for OFC and risk caused by loading foods as allergen, however, there were few pediatricians who did not recognize the necessity of OFC.
There were 83.5% of pediatricians in respondents, including approximate half number of pediatricians performing OFC presently, who felt it difficult to perform OFC, and most of them explained that risk caused by loading foods as allergen and insufficiencies in stuff and place for tests made it difficult to perform OFC. Cost determined by public health insurance and methodology of tests did not disturb them to perform OFC. To spread OFC, it is necessary to supplement insufficiencies of stuff and place in each institution by cooperating among hospitals and clinics in order to perform OFC safely.
