High anxiety and health-related quality of life in families with children with food allergy during coronavirus disease 2019.
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol
; 126(1): 83-88.e1, 2021 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-962732
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Food allergy has a known effect on quality of life (QoL), but this has not been extensively studied during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.OBJECTIVE:
To characterize the levels of anxiety of mothers of children aged 0 to 8 years with food allergy compared with families of children without a food allergy and the health-related QoL among children with food allergy during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.METHODS:
In a mixed-methods study, Canadian mothers of children aged 0 to 8 years with (cases) and without (controls) food allergy provided demographic data and completed age-appropriate anxiety questionnaires between April 14, 2020, and April 28, 2020. The cases also provided food allergy-related data and completed the Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire. In-depth interviews were subsequently conducted with purposefully selected cases.RESULTS:
In a total of 580 participants, 5.5% were cases and 94.5% were controls. For mothers of children aged 0 to 1.5 years, anxiety levels did not differ between cases and controls. For mothers of children aged 1.5 to 8 years, anxiety levels were higher in cases vs controls (P < .05). Among the cases, neither overall nor domain-specific Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire scores differed between age groups (0-3 vs 4-7 years), even after adjustment for confounding variables, including childcare during the pandemic. Qualitatively, the following 3 themes were identified unexpected challenges of food shopping; less food-related food anxiety during the pandemic; and differences and delays in food allergy testing and therapy.CONCLUSION:
Mothers of children with food allergy reported high anxiety and poor health-related QoL. Yet, qualitatively, day-to-day food allergy management was better during the pandemic.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Anxiety
/
Quality of Life
/
Pandemics
/
Food Hypersensitivity
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adult
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
/
Infant, Newborn
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol
Journal subject:
Allergy and Immunology
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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