Eyal Shemesh, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have found that supervised self-injection with empty syringes makes many food-allergic adolescents and their parents more comfortable with using the life-saving devices. The results were published on March 7 in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.
“Many adolescent patients with food allergies experience needle phobia or anxiety about self-administering epinephrine,” said the study’s lead author, Eyal Shemesh, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “Although it’s a simple idea for teenagers to practice giving themselves an injection to make themselves feel comfortable, this could lead to them being confident enough to take a life-saving action using epinephrine down the road.” The study’s senior author is Scott Sicherer, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Allergy and Immunology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.