[Implementation status of the oral food challenge in Japan]

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.

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.

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.

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.