Impact of Food Allergy on Adolescent's Quality of Life Ismail Azza I.1,2,*, Hamid Mohammed Y. Abdel3 1Assistant Professor, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Jouf University, KSA 2Lecturer of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Suez Canal University, Egypt 3Assistant Professor of Home Economics, Faculty of Education, Suez Canal University, Egypt *Corresponding Author: Azza I. Ismail, e-mail: drazzadiaa@yahoo.com, Contact No.: 00966540842912
Online published on 31 March, 2020. Abstract Background Food allergy is a major problem in both developed and developing countries and seems to increase over the past 10–15 years. Due to the incomplete understanding of the effects of food allergy on health-related quality of life (HRQL) among adolescents. This study aimed to identify the impact of food allergy on adolescent's quality of life. Method In this cross-sectional study, 144 adolescents aged 12–18 years who objectively-diagnosed having food allergy were included. Adolescents were interviewed and completed questionnaire sheet consisted of two parts, the first part for personal data and the second part included questions about types of allergic foods, signs and symptoms and complications of allergy, also they completed specific food allergy quality of life questionnaire-teenager form. Results Shows that, the average score of the food allergies scale is (167.93), which is in the high range. The average quality of life measure for adolescents is 105.42 degrees, which is considereda low level of quality of life as a whole. There is a negative correlation between food allergies in adolescents and the quality of life dimensions at the level of significance p= 0.05, which highlights the importance of the current study. Conclusions The present study concluded that food allergy has a high impact on the quality of life of adolescents and there are negative correlations between adolescent food allergies and the quality of life from all dimensions. Top Keywords Adolescents, Food allergy, Quality of life, Health-related quality of life. Top |