[Implementation status of the oral food challenge in Japan].

BACKGROUND: Oral Food Challenge (OFC) has been covered by medical insurance and has been acknowledged as a standardized method for diagnosis of food allergies. After 5 years have passed, we would clarify the state of achievement for OFC, list up the problems, and produce the basic information for the policies in our future.

METHOD: The investigation had been done toward allergic specialists for Japanese Society of Allergology and the members of Japanese Society of Pediatric Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

RESULTS: 1353 doctors answered the questionnaires. It consists of Practitioners for 49.9%, doctors working for hospitals with more than 100 beds for 43.9%, and their specialized fields are Pediatrics for 65%, Internal medicine for 18.8%. The examination shows OFC was not done for 60% of the total population. Out of 541 facilities, 47.5% for 1 to 10 OFC per year, 22% for 11 to 30 OFC per year, 11.3% for 31-50 OFC per year, 8.7% for 51-100 OFC per year, and 10.5% for more than 100 OFC per year. Based on the population with the age under 9, the national OFC fill-rate average is 6.4% considering ratio of patient population.

CONCLUSIONS: OFC has been examined widely by allergic specialists in Japan. However, the fill-rate is not enough and we need to test more OFC strategically.