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Background:
Health-related
quality of life (HRQoL)
in food-allergic
children and their
parents can be
assessed using
generic and specific
questionnaires.
Objectives:
We investigated
whether HRQoL scores
in food-allergic
children and their
parents were similar
to normative data
and whether they
were correlated.
Methods: We
searched PubMed,
Scopus, and the New
York Academy of
Medicine Grey
Literature Report
site. Electronic
searches were
supplemented by
perusal of the
references of the
papers retrieved.
Results:
Seventeen studies
were eligible. Two
studies compared
total HRQoL scores
for children with
food allergy and
normative data and
found no significant
differences. Six
studies compared
HRQoL questionnaire
subdomain scores for
children with
normative data, and
4 studies compared
the same scores for
parents with
normative data.
Children with food
allergy scored worse
in subdomains
including bodily
pain, physical
functioning, mental
health, general
health, and
emotional, social,
and psychological
quality of life.
However, they
performed better in
physical health, and
had fewer
limitations in
schoolwork due to
behavioral problems.
Parents performed
better in subdomains
such as physical and
environmental
health, social and
psychological
health, and family
cohesion but scored
worse on social
health, overall
quality of life,
emotional health,
impact on parental
time, and
limitations in usual
family activities.
Statistically
significant
results for these
subdomains were not
invariably
corroborated by
subsequent studies.
No study provided
data on the
correlation between
childrens HRQoL and
that of their
parents.
Conclusions:
HRQoL of
food-allergic
children and their
parents may differ
from that of the
normative population
in certain
subdomains. However,
the evidence was not
sufficient to draw
robust conclusions.
Key words:
Child. Adolescent.
Parents. Food
hypersensitivity.
Questionnaires.
Quality of life. |
