Food Allergies and Quality of Life among School-Aged Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Recently, besides the focus on the medical diagnosis and therapeutic interventions for food allergy (FA), the psychosocial aspects of this frequent condition have also been investigated. The current systematic review aimed to explore and synthesize the scientific evidence published from January 2015 to April 2022 on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) among children and adolescents with FAs. Twenty-eight research studies were included in the review, which was conducted on three databases (PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane Library). In most studies, the scores indicate an average level of HRQoL for children and adolescents with FAs, with girls and older children being more negatively affected than boys and younger ones, respectively. Few studies compared HRQoL between children with FA and healthy children, with 3 of them showing worse HRQoL for children with FAs. Immunotherapy has been found to improve the QoL of children with FAs. Anaphylaxis history, number of FAs, additional allergies, number and severity of symptoms were identified as the main factors with a negative impact on QoL. More comparative studies on the HRQoL of children and adolescents with FAs and healthy populations or children with other chronic diseases are required in order to improve QoL of children with FAs.

Automated summary

Recently, there has been an increased focus on the psychosocial aspects of food allergy (FA) in addition to medical diagnosis and treatment. This systematic review examined the scientific evidence on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) among children and adolescents with FAs from January 2015 to April 2022. The review included 28 research studies from three databases and found that most children and adolescents with FAs had average levels of HRQoL, with girls and older children experiencing more negative impacts. Few studies compared HRQoL between children with FA and healthy children, but some showed worse HRQoL for children with FAs. Immunotherapy was found to improve the QoL of children with FAs, while factors such as anaphylaxis history and severity of symptoms negatively impacted QoL. More comparative studies are needed to improve the QoL of children with FAs.