Abstract

CME EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES 1. Recognize and appreciate the impact of food allergies on psychosocial health. 2. List the factors that have been shown to negatively affect health-related quality of life. 3. Understand how physicians can directly help to improve a child's quality of life while living with food allergies. Food allergy is a serious problem affecting a growing number of children worldwide. There is a large body of evidence supporting the detrimental effects that food allergy can have on a child's quality of life. With validated tools, we can identify these children and focus on how to protect, guide, and help them to live a safe life. Recent research articulates how food allergies impact health-related quality of life (HRQL). There are studies reported from the child's perspective, as well as studies reported from the parent's perspective. With the development of validated disease and age-specific questionnaires, researchers can reliably gather data on the psychological aspect of children with food allergies. The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the literature examining the psycho-social impact of food allergies on children. This article was designed to outline suggestions to help physicians care for the whole child - both mind and body.

View details for DOI 10.3928/00904481-20130619-12

View details for Web of Science ID 000322203700005