Psychological burden of food allergy

Table 2 Food allergy and quality of life

Author	Subjects	Examinations	Results
Primeau et al, 2000	153 peanut allergic children and 37 adults compared to 69 children and 42 adults with rheumatologic disease; furthermore their families	Impact on Family Questionnaire (IFQ)	Peanut allergic children have more disruption in their daily activities, more impairment in the familial-social dimension of the IFQ Adults with rheumatological disease reported more disruption in their family relations
Sicherer et al, 2001	253 children and adolescents with food allergy	Children's health questionnaire (CHQ-PF50) Allergy-related questionnaire	Worse scores for general health perception, parental distress and worries, and limitations in usual family activities compared to healthy controls. Family cohesion was greater in the food allergic group
Avery et al, 2003	20 children with peanut allergy and 20 children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus	Self-designed questionnaire Vespid Allergy Quality of life Questionnaire Cameras to record quality of life	Children with food allergy report more fear of an adverse event, more anxiety about eating, more restriction due to the illness
Marklund et al, 2004	1451 adolescents, thereof 19% "reactive" to food	Health Survey Short Form (SF-36)	Lower scores in seven of the eight scales (role functioning-physical, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, role functioning-emotional, mental health)
Lyons et al ,2004	162 young adults, of which 24 “reported" food allergy	Questionnaire, registering awareness and perceptions of food allergy, self-rated health State-Trait Anxiety Scale Perceived Health Competence Scale	Allergic subjects with high health competence reported great anxiety levels. They perceived that their allergy had less of an impact on their lives than others believed it would
Bollinger et al, 2006	87 families of food allergic children	Food allergy impact scale	All aspects of daily life are affected with most striking effects on family meal preparation and activities outside home