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Arasi S, Otani IM, Klingbeil E, Bégin P, Kearney C, Dominguez TL, Block WM, O'Riordan G, Nadeau KC. Two year effects of food allergen immunotherapy on quality of life in caregivers of children with food allergies. Allergy Asthma Clin Immunol 2014; 10:57. [PMID: 25788951 PMCID: PMC4363059 DOI: 10.1186/1710-1492-10-57] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2014] [Accepted: 10/20/2014] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Food allergy (FA) can have serious psychosocial and economic repercussions on food-allergic children and their caregivers and be associated with negative effects on their quality of life. Food allergen immunotherapy (IT) is a promising experimental therapy but can be linked to anxiety. This study investigated the effects of IT on FA-specific health-related quality of life (HRQL) over a 24 month-follow-up in caregivers of children with single and multiple food allergies. We hypothesized that characteristics such as age, asthma at baseline and respiratory allergic reactions during therapy were key characteristics that influenced HRQL scores. Methods A validated Food Allergy Quality of Life – Parental Burden Questionnaire (FAQL-PB) was used to assess HRQL. It was randomly distributed to and filled out by caregivers of 57 food-allergic children enrolled in clinical trials of IT. The same parent answered the FABQL-PB questionnaire at baseline and for 6-month, 12- month, 18- month, and 24-month time points on IT. Results Caregiver HRQL improved significantly (change < - 0.5, p <0.0001) at each follow-up time point compared to baseline. The percentages of caregivers with improvement in HRQL progressively increased (92% at 24 month-follow-up time point compared to baseline). HRQL improved more in caregivers of participants older than 10 years or desensitized to more than 4 food allergens than those who were not (p <0.0001). Caregivers of participants with pre-existing asthma or dose-related respiratory allergic reactions had less improvement in HRQL than those who did not (p <0.01). Conclusion IT lead to improvement in caregiver HRQL. Certain characteristics were associated with greater improvements in caregiver HRQL. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1710-1492-10-57) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefania Arasi
- Stanford Alliance for Food Allergy Research, Palo Alto, CA USA ; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Stanford University, 269 Campus Drive, CCSR Building Suite 3215, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
| | - Iris M Otani
- Stanford Alliance for Food Allergy Research, Palo Alto, CA USA ; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Stanford University, 269 Campus Drive, CCSR Building Suite 3215, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
| | - Erik Klingbeil
- Stanford Alliance for Food Allergy Research, Palo Alto, CA USA ; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Stanford University, 269 Campus Drive, CCSR Building Suite 3215, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
| | - Philippe Bégin
- Stanford Alliance for Food Allergy Research, Palo Alto, CA USA ; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Stanford University, 269 Campus Drive, CCSR Building Suite 3215, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
| | - Clare Kearney
- Stanford Alliance for Food Allergy Research, Palo Alto, CA USA ; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Stanford University, 269 Campus Drive, CCSR Building Suite 3215, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
| | - Tina Lr Dominguez
- Stanford Alliance for Food Allergy Research, Palo Alto, CA USA ; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Stanford University, 269 Campus Drive, CCSR Building Suite 3215, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
| | - Whitney M Block
- Stanford Alliance for Food Allergy Research, Palo Alto, CA USA ; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Stanford University, 269 Campus Drive, CCSR Building Suite 3215, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
| | - Geraldine O'Riordan
- Stanford Alliance for Food Allergy Research, Palo Alto, CA USA ; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Stanford University, 269 Campus Drive, CCSR Building Suite 3215, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
| | - Kari C Nadeau
- Stanford Alliance for Food Allergy Research, Palo Alto, CA USA ; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Stanford University, 269 Campus Drive, CCSR Building Suite 3215, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
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