In a recent study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers sought to determine the proportion of households that exclude specific allergens due to food allergies and the association of this practice with psychosocial functioning.
They devised a survey that followed the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) reporting guidelines and was approved by the Boston Children’s Hospital institutional review board. From April 2022 to November 2023, they collected anonymous surveys from families of children with food allergies diagnosed by health care clinicians at Boston Children’s Hospital and social media outlets.
A total of 919 surveys were completed by parents of children with food allergies from 39 US states and Canada. The respondents’ demographics broke down as follows:
- Median age for parents was 39 years;
- 881 (96.6%) were mothers;
- 775 (85.5%) were white;
- 23 (2.5%) were black.
and amongst the children:
- 521 (57.6%) were male;
- 704 (78.6%) were white;
- 29 (3.2%) were black.
Of the parents, 586 (63.8%) said they excluded at least one allergen from their homes. The most common allergies were:
- peanut: 623 (67.8%);
- tree nut: 602 [65.5%);
- egg: 404 (44.0%).
Based on a priori analyses, the foods most excluded from homes with food allergies were:
- peanut: 389 (62.4%);
- tree nut: 329 (54.7%);
- sesame: 120 (51.3%).
Comparatively, only 98 homes with an egg allergy (24.3%) excluded egg from the home. The difference in the proportion of those excluding sesame compared with those excluding egg, milk, soy, and wheat were significant.
Parents who excluded food from the home due to their child’s allergy reported worse mean food allergy Quality of Life (QoL) scores for worry (2.6 vs 1.7), anxiety (34.3 vs 16.9), and self-efficacy (79.7 vs 84.8) compared with parents who did not.
The parent-proxy screener for child anxiety disorders indicated that children aged 8 to 17 years living in homes that excluded food allergens were more likely to have elevated generalized anxiety scores (42 of 138 children [30.4%] vs 10 of 64 children [15.6%]) than children from homes that did not exclude food-related allergens.
To summarize the findings, most families chose to exclude food allergens from their household and families that engaged in this practice reported more food allergy-related psychosocial concerns than families who did not.
The researchers stated their findings suggest that insight about the psychosocial well-being of a family could be obtained if clinicians asked how food allergies were managed in the home, and allocating time during appointments to discuss ways to manage food allergies may help decrease stress and anxiety for children with FAs.
They noted that other studies have found that psychosocial distress may be more prevalent in families of children with peanut, tree nut, and sesame allergies when compared with families of children with other food allergies — such as egg and milk — which are equally important, more prevalent, and also potentially life-threatening.
They also noted that their study was limited and may not represent the broader food allergy population.
