Nutritional behavior and attitudes in food allergic children and their mothers

Clinical and Translational Allergy

Antonella Muraro²  Dario Gregori¹  Francesca Foltran¹  Ileana Baldi¹  Francesca Lazzarotto²  Alice Toniolo²  Laura Polloni² 

[1] Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy;Referral Centre for Food Allergy Diagnosis and Treatment, Veneto Region, Department of Women and Child Health, Padua University Hospital, via Giustiniani 3, 35128 Padua, Italy

关键词: Children;    Social impact;    Nutrition;    Diet;    Food allergy;   

Others  :  794116
DOI  :  10.1186/2045-7022-3-41

 received in 2013-08-13, accepted in 2013-11-24,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Avoidance of food allergens requires adapting dietetic habits, changing nutritional approach. A restriction of food choice can result in a monotonous diet and impact social life. This study investigated the impact of food allergy on nutritional behavior and attitudes of patients and their families.

Methods

A survey involving mothers of food allergic children aged 0–16 years was carried out. We primarily studied the variables related to the child (age, gender, clinical history, food and social events attitudes). In addition, Spielberg Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) test was applied to the mothers. We assessed separately the associations between characteristics of child-mother pairs and diet monotony, and attendance to social events, by means of proportional odds regression models.

Results

Nearly 10% of the 124 participants completely banned allergenic foods at home and 15.3% consumed their meals separately. More than one fourth attended parties rarely or never. Most of the participants reported a “monotonous diet”. Model results suggested significant associations between child age (p = 0.05), mother age (p = 0.05), number of excluded foods (p = 0.003) and monotony of the diet. The attendance of social events was inversely associated with the number of excluded foods (p = 0.04) and the mother’s STAI-T T-score (p = 0.04).

Conclusions

The results highlighted the impact of food allergy in reducing interest about food and influencing patients’ approach to social life. It is important to support families in managing allergens avoidance.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Polloni et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Rona RJ, Keil T, Summers C, Gislason D, Zuidmeer L, Sodergren E, et al.: The prevalence of food allergy: a meta-analysis. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2007, 120:638-646.
• [2]Venter C, Pereira B, Voigt K, Grundy J, Clayton CB, Higgins B, Arshad SH, Dean T: Prevalence and cumulative incidence of food hypersensitivity in the first 3 years of life. Allergy 2008, 63(3):354-359.
• [3]Cummings AJ, Knibb RC, King RM, Lucas JS: The Psychosocial impact of food allergy and food hypersensitivity in children, adolescents and their families: a review. Allergy 2010, 65:933-945.
• [4]Lieberman JA, Sicherer SH: Quality of life in food allergy. Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol 2011, 11(3):236-242.
• [5]Cummings AJ, Knibb RC, Erlewyn-Lajeunesse M, et al.: Management of nut allergy influences quality of life and anxiety in children and their mothers. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2010, 21:586-594.
• [6]Ostblom E, Egmar AC, Gardulf A, et al.: The impact of food hypersensitivity reported in 9-year-old children by their parents on health-related quality of life. Allergy 2008, 63:211-218.
• [7]Sicherer SH, Noone SA, Munoz-Furlong A: The impact of childhood food allergy on quality of life. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2001, 87:461-464.
• [8]Munoz-Furlong A: Daily coping strategies for patients and their families. Pediatrics 2003, 111:1654-1661.
• [9]Rouf K, White L, Evans K: A qualitative investigation into the maternal experience of having a young child with severe food allergy. Clin Child Psychol Psychiat 2012, 17(1):49-64.
• [10]Le TM, Zijlstra WT, van Opstal EY, Knol MJ, L’hoir MP, Knulst AC, Pasmans SG: Food avoidance in children with adverse food reactions: Influence of anxiety and clinical parameters. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2013, 24(7):650-655. 10.1111/pai.12114
• [11]DunnGalvin A, Gaffney A, Hourihane JO: Developmental pathways in food allergy: a new theoretical framework. Allergy 2009, 64:560-568.
• [12]Avery NJ, King RM, Knight S, Hourihane JO: Assessment of quality of life in children with peanut allergy. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2003, 14:378-382.
• [13]Bollinger ME, Dahlquist LM, Mudd K, Sonntag C, Dillinger L, McKenna K: The impact of food allergy on the daily activities of children and their families. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2006, 96:415-421.
• [14]Springston EG, Smith B, Shulruff J, et al.: Variation in quality of life among caregivers of food allergic children. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2010, 105:287-294.
• [15]King RM, Knibb RC, Houriane JO: Impact of peanut allergy on quality of life, stress and anxiety in the family. Allergy 2009, 64:461-468.
• [16]Spielberger CD: STAI State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Y form. Firenze: Edizione Organizzazioni speciali; 1996.
• [17]Spielberger CD: State-Trait Anxiety Inventory: Bibliography. 2nd edition. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press; 1989.
• [18]Flokstra-de Blok BM, Dubois AE: Quality of life measures for food allergy. Clin Exp Allergy 2012, 42(7):1014-1020.
• [19]Calsbeek H, Rijken M, Bekkers MJ, Dekker J, van Berge Henegouwen GP: School and leisure activities in adolescents and young adults with chronic digestive disorders: impact of burden of disease. Int J Behav Med 2006, 13(2):121-130.
• [20]Calsbeek H, Rijken M, Bekkers MJ, Kerssens JJ, Dekker J, van Berge Henegouwen GP: Social position of adolescents with chronic digestive disorders. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2002, 14(5):543-549.
• [21]Primeau MN, Kagan R, Joseph L, Lim H, Dufresne C, Duffy C, et al.: The psychological burden of peanut allergy as perceived by adults with peanut allergy and the parents of peanut-allergic children. Clin Exp Allergy 2000, 30:1135-1143.
• [22]Joshi P, Mofidi S, Sicherer SH: Interpretation of commercial food ingredient labels by parents of food allergic children. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2002, 109:1019-1021.
• [23]Gowland MH: Food allergen avoidance-the patient’s viewpoint. Allergy 2001, 56(Suppl. 67):117-120.
• [24]Hubbard S: Nutrition and food allergies: the dietitian’s role. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2003, 90(Suppl 3):115-116.
• [25]Grimshaw KE: Dietary management of food allergy in children. Proc Nutr Soc 2006, 65(4):412-417.
• [26]Noimark L, Cox HE: Nutritional problems related to food allergy in childhood. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2008, 19(2):188-195.
• [27]Marklund B, Ahlstedt S, Nordström G: Health-related quality of life in food hypersensitive schoolchildren and their families: parents’ perceptions. Health Qual Life Outcomes 2006, 4:48. BioMed Central Full Text
• [28]Gillespie CA, Woodgate RL, Chalmers KI, Watson WT: “Living with risk”: mothering a child with food-induced anaphylaxis. J Pediatr Nurs 2007, 22(1):30-42.