Quality of Life of Children Aged 8-12 Years Undergoing Oral Immunotherapy for Food Allergy: Parent and Child Perspective

Background: Oral immunotherapy (OIT) for food allergy improves the quality of life (QOL) of children, but it has mostly been studied from the perspective of their parents.

Objective: To examine the effect of OIT on QOL of children and compare child and parent perspectives.

Methods: The Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire-Child Form (FAQLQ-CF) was translated to Hebrew and validated. The FAQLQ-CF was administered to children aged 8-12 years and the FAQLQ-PF was administered to their parents at the start of OIT for food allergy, upon reaching maintenance and after 6 months of follow up. Food-allergic children not undergoing OIT served as observational controls. QOL scores obtained from children and their parents were compared.

Results: The median total FAQLQ-CF score of children undergoing OIT (n=90) improved significantly from the start of OIT (4.8, 3.8-5.7) to maintenance (3.9, 3-5.2) (p=0.001) with further improvement at follow-up (3.1, 1.8-5, p<0.001). These scores were significantly better than the scores of the control group (p=0.013 for the total score at follow up). The median FQAQLQ-PF scores improved significantly as well, from 4.0 (3.2-5) at the start, to 2.9 (1.9-4.7) (p= 0.03) upon reaching maintenance, and to 2.2 (1.6-3.6) (P<0.001) at follow-up. Parents reported better QOL scores compared to their children in all stages of OIT(start, p=0.004; maintenance, p=0.036; follow-up, p=0.003).

Conclusions: QOL improves significantly for children with food allergy undergoing OIT compared to controls. Further improvement is observed on follow-up 6 months later. Parents perceive QOL to be better than the perception of the children themselves.