Parental anxiety about suspected food allergy reduced by food challenge

Parents of children with allergy to peanut and tree nuts often experience high levels of concern and anxiety in providing a safe diet for their child and fear accidental exposure will cause a serious reaction. New research has recently been conducted in the Netherlands to assess parental anxiety about food-allergic reactions in their child and to investigate the impact on anxiety levels of a clinically controlled food challenge.

Fifty-seven children between the age of 3 and 16 with suspected peanut or hazelnut allergy were evaluated by double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge. All parents completed the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory prior to food challenge and again 2 weeks, 3 months and 1 year after the food challenge. The mean anxiety scores on these moments were compared with each other and with general Dutch norms.

Results showed that prior to the food challenge, parents had high levels of anxiety compared to the general Dutch norms. After the food challenge, the anxiety was significantly lower than it had been, regardless of whether their child had exhibited a positive or negative reaction to the challenge. One year after the food challenge had been conducted, the level of parental anxiety was still significantly lower than it had been prior to the food challenge.

These findings have important implications for families with suspected food allergy and should be taken into consideration by clinicians working in the food allergy field.

Reference: Zijlstra et al. 2009 Pediatric Allergy and Immunology. DOI 10.1111/j.1399-3038.2009.00929.x