Are primary care physicians following National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease guidelines for the prevention of peanut allergy? A survey-based study

Background: The 2017 addendum to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) guidelines on peanut allergy prevention significantly altered recommendations for patients at risk of developing peanut allergies. It is unknown if primary care physicians are aware of or are following these guidelines. Objective: To assess the knowledge and practice of the NIAID guidelines among primary care physicians. Methods: A survey was developed to assess the knowledge, awareness, and practice behaviors of the NIAID guidelines. It was distributed to pediatric, family medicine, and medicine-pediatric residents and attending physicians at two large academic centers. Responses were analyzed with binary logistic regression. Results: The survey was distributed to 605 providers, with a response rate of 35% (n = 210). The average score was 4.8 of seven questions answered correctly. Of the participants, 53% incorrectly recommended at-home peanut introduction in patients with egg allergy. In addition, 40% of the participants incorrectly believed that the earliest age for peanut introduction was >1 year of age. More than half of the participants were unaware of the new guidelines. On logistic regression, factors associated with adequate knowledge assessment scores were awareness of the guidelines (odds ratio [OR] 2.98 [confidence interval {CI}, 1.34-6.60]), graduation from residency within 5 years (OR 3.60 [95% CI, 1.14-11.35]), and affiliation with the medicine-pediatrics department (OR 4.59 [95% CI, 1.07-19.65]). Conclusion: The primary care providers incorrectly answer one-third of the questions related to the prevention of peanut allergy. Increasing awareness of the 2017 NIAID guidelines may provide an opportunity to improve patient outcomes. There is an urgent need to develop innovative education strategies to publicize these guidelines.