Stress about food allergy

Monday, 30 November 2009 08:16

Researchers have surveyed 69 children ages 8 to 17 years who had food allergies and 141 mothers of food-allergic children aged 2 to 17 years to measure the psychological stress experienced by food-allergic children and identify factors associated with this distress. Mothers were asked for information about their family and child’s medical history and were asked to rank the child’s distress and their own levels of anxiety. Children in the study were asked about their psychological distress and their attitudes toward food allergies.

Results indicated that children with food allergy had the same or lower stress scores as kids who had no serious health problems. Mothers tended to report more anxiety and depressive symptoms for their children than the children themselves did. Children with a higher number of food allergies were found to have more positive attitudes about their condition than those who had one or only a few food allergies. Children with negative attitudes about food allergy, and older children whose mothers had a higher level of anxiety, were found to have greater levels of anxiety.

Reference: LeBovidge et al. 2009. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2009.09.042