3. Quality of Life Flashcards
Discuss the impact the condition is having on the Quality of life for Jenny
Definition of QoL
WHO defines Quality of Life as an individuals perception of their position in context of culture and value systems in which they live in and in relation to their goals and expectations, standards and concerns.
Food allergy on QoL overall?
A vast majority of research and reviews have recognised that food allergies have a significant effect on children, adolescents, adults AND parents/families.
QoL was also more affected when the sufferer also had another atopic illness or more than one food allergy.
Reasons for this is because food allergy forces individuals to be vigilant all the time, in all social situations which involve eating (parties, restaurants etc). It can also cause economic issues buying dietary specific foods, preventing parents from working even, and sibling rivalry can arise also.
Quantitative research has provided us with good insight but depending on the type of scale used and the study design we must be cautious in our interpretation.
Qualitative research provides us with a different perspective which scales might miss, it allows our understanding of QoL with food allergies to increase.
Morou et al (2014)
Food Allergy
Conducted a systematic review on HR QoL in Children With Food Allergy and Their Parents.
15 studies looking at health-related QoL in children with food allergies. Compared to healthy norms these children and adolescents had :
- poorer emotional health (parent proxy and child self-report)
- poorer social and emotion quality of life
- more bodily pain in adolescents
- poorer overall HRQoL
Populations with food allergy scored worse in specific HRQoL subdomains such as bodily pain, physical functioning, mental health, general health, and, emotional, social, and psychological health.
10 studies looking at Parental HRQoL:
- poorer social relationships
- poorer overall QoL and emotional impact
- better physical, environmental and psychological health
- better social QoL
Differences may be because of different populations used across studies, different scales, severity of allergy/type of food allergy, and self-efficacy, stress and anxiety levels in the ppts used in research can all effect outcomes.
Atopic Dermatitis on QoL overall
AD effects sleep, causes itching and irritation, increased treatment costs, can disrupt school and work attendance, and even impact family and social/romantic relationships.
Much of the research has looked at children and some has looked at adults.
Gaps in literature exist for adults, adolescents. A systematic review conducted by Birdi et al found that only 32 studies have looked at QoL in adults with AD since 2000.
Alvarenga and Caldeira (2009)
AD and QoL
An observational study of the correlations between clinical indicators of severity and two questionnaires on quality of life on 42 children with AD.
Reported that AD significantly decreased QoL for children particularly impacting itchiness, mood changes such as frustration and anger, problems caused by treatment and sleep disturbances.
Should be considered that the population sample was of convenience from a recently established specialist centre in Brazil.
Chernyshov (2015)
AD and QoL
They investigated gender differences in HRQoL and family QoL in 50 children less than 4yr.
Parents of daughters with AD experiences greater impact on mood, sleep disturbances and enjoying family activities. As age increased, so did emotional distress for the daughter and the family.
Sicherer (2001)
QoL through childhood with FA
Surveys were completed by 253 parents. The mean age of the food-allergic children was 10.8 - range, 5 to 18 yrs old
Childhood food allergy has a significant impact on General Health, Emotional impact on the parent, and Family Activities.
Primeau et al (2000)
QoL through childhood with FA
To compare the quality of life and family relations of children and adults with a peanut allergy to that of children and adults with a rheumatological disease.
153 peanut-allergic children were compared with 69 children with a rheumatological disease while 37 peanut-allergic adults were compared with 42 adults with a rheumatological disease
Their children had more impairment in their quality of life and their family experienced more disruption in the familial/social dimension of family relations compared with parents of children with a rheumatological disease.
