The Impact of Food Allergies on Quality of Life

• Published in: Pediatric annals Vol. 42; no. 7; pp. e151 - 145
• Main Author: Bacal, Liane R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States SLACK INCORPORATED 01.07.2013
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Allergens; Allergy; Anaphylaxis; Anxiety - etiology; Asthma; Bullying; Caregivers; Child; Children & youth; Chronic Illness; Chronic illnesses; Cost of Illness; Diabetes; Disease; Emergency medical care; Families & family life; Family (Sociological Unit); Family Conflict; Fathers; Food allergies; Food Hypersensitivity - psychology; Humans; Medical Services; Mothers; Parent-Child Relations; Parents; Parents & parenting; Parents - psychology; Patients; Pediatrics; Physical Health; Physician's Role; Physician-Patient Relations; Quality of life; Quality of Life - psychology; Questionnaires; Separation Anxiety; Social psychology; Stereotyping; Stress; Young Children; United States > US
• ISSN: 0090-4481; 1938-2359
• DOI: 10.3928/00904481-20130619-12

CME Educational Objectives 1. Recognize and appreciate the impact of food allergies on psychosocial health. 2. List the factors that have been shown to negatively affect health-related quality of life. 3. Understand how physicians can directly help to improve a child’s quality of life while living with food allergies. Food allergy is a serious problem affecting a growing number of children worldwide. There is a large body of evidence supporting the detrimental effects that food allergy can have on a child’s quality of life. With validated tools, we can identify these children and focus on how to protect, guide, and help them to live a safe life. Recent research articulates how food allergies impact health-related quality of life (HRQL). There are studies reported from the child’s perspective, as well as studies reported from the parent’s perspective. With the development of validated disease and age-specific questionnaires, researchers can reliably gather data on the psychological aspect of children with food allergies. The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the literature examining the psycho-social impact of food allergies on children. This article was designed to outline suggestions to help physicians care for the whole child — both mind and body.