Clinical outcome measures in food allergy treatment

There are several components to the reporting of efficacy and safety outcomes in food immunotherapy. Desensitization, as the induced raise in the patient's threshold while on therapy, or sustained unresponsiveness as maintaining the threshold increase even if the therapy is discontinued, represent the most frequent primary outcomes of efficacy. However, a closer scrutiny of their operational definitions reveals a significant and impactful heterogeneity. Safety results are usually summarized using severity classifications, with a more consolidated and homogeneous approach for peanut than for milk and egg immunotherapy. Greater heterogeneity is observed in the use or definition of anaphylaxis as well as in the reporting of other safety parameters.