Parents underestimate allergic child’s burden

Monday, 06 June 2011 12:25

In a recent survey of health-related quality of life, among parent-child pairs in the Netherlands, children reported significantly greater impact of their food allergy on their health-related quality of life than their parents did. At the same time, the perceptions of disease severity reported by both parents and children were nearly identical.

Differences in perspectives between children (8–12 years) and parents were cited as the most probable cause of the discrepancy, with the authors suggesting that parents may underestimate their child's health-related quality of life impairment.

Reference: Van Der Velde et al. 2011. Clinical and Experimental Allergy DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.2011.03753.x