Brazilian pediatricians’ adherence to food allergy guidelines—A cross-sectional study

Food allergy is an emerging clinical condition in pediatrics, so recommendations on its management have been widely published. Studying pediatricians’ adherence to these clinical practice guidelines (CPG) and understanding the reasons for their non-compliance can help to promote better management of this condition. A cross-sectional study was conducted by a survey among Brazilian pediatricians, randomly selected during the 38(th) Brazilian Congress of Pediatrics, which took place in October, 2017. A validated questionnaire with 16 questions addressing knowledge and practice on food allergy, as well as self-reported adherence to international guidelines was applied. Of the total of 415 pediatricians from all regions of the country who were surveyed, only 69 (16.7%) had a satisfactory adherence rate (≥80%). Adequate adherence to the guidelines was associated with the variables: ‘evaluating more than 10 children with suspected cow’s milk allergy (CMA) per month'; 'having read the Brazilian consensus'; or 'being aware of any international food allergy guideline'. In 8 of the 10 questions that assessed conscious adherence, a minority of those surveyed (20.3–42.3% variation) stated that they knew that their response was in line with the guidelines. This finding was statistically significant (p<0.05) in 7 of these 8 questions. The self-reported adherence of Brazilian pediatricians to international food allergy guidelines was low. Pediatricians who evaluated a higher number of children with suspected CMA or who were aware of the recommendations, had a higher rate of adherence. The results of the survey found that lack of resource was the major reported barrier to guideline adherence but lack of awareness must be a relevant non perceived barrier. This study shows the pediatricians´ self-reported adherence to food allergy guidelines in a widely overview for the first time in Brazil. More studies are necessary to investigate adherence to guidelines by pediatricians in other countries and to develop strategies to improve adherence.