Immunoallergy Department, Hospital de Dona Estefânia, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central, E.P.E.
- EAACI Congress 2012, Genebra, 16-20 de Junho 2012 (Poster).
Background: Food allergy is an increasingly prevalent childhood´s disease and food eviction is still the treatment's basis. The impact of children's food allergy in parents is not properly characterized.
Method: In this cross-sectional study, children, aged between 5 and 12-years-old, with IgE-mediated food allergies were included. A standard medical questionnaire was filled for each child and skin prick tests were performed for aeroallergens and for the involved foods. Spirometry, exhaled nitric oxide´s (eNO) measurement and total IgE, as well as involved foods´ specific-IgE were also performed for each patient. Mothers of the participating children answered the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) questionnaire.
Result: 21 children were evaluated, 6 girls and 15 boys, with a mean age of 9-years-old (SD ± 2 years). Milk was the most frequently involved food (38%) and 52% of the patients had a previous history of anaphylaxis. 91% of the patients concomitantly had asthma, 86% rhinitis and 76% eczema. There were no significant differences between the total PSI in our population, comparing with the validated reference values for our country. After a more detailed analysis we found 5 cases (24%) showing tendency for a defensive attitude in the answers. We also found statistical significant lower scores, in the subscale attachment.
Conclusion: Food allergy was not associated to parenting stress in our study. The tendency for a defensive attitude may be related with a tentative of avoid handling with the child´s disease. Low scores in the parents attachment subscale may be related to a difficult relationship between mothers and children with food allergy. However, these results should be clarified increasing the sample size.
Palavras-chave: food allergy, children, parenting stress.