Original ArticleSleep disturbances and affecting factors in young children with food allergy and their mothers☆
Introduction
Food allergy (FA) is a growing public health problem throughout the world that affects the daily lives of children and their caregivers in varying degrees.1, 2 There are currently no cures available for patients with food allergy. Therapy is focused on food avoidance and emergency treatment of accidental food allergen ingestion.3
Sleep disorders are the most common behavioral problems in children. Sleep patterns change throughout life, although the quality and quantity of sleep always depend on individual factors such as age, sex, and psychological and environmental factors.4 Asthma and/or allergic rhinitis have been associated with sleep disturbances. Children with respiratory and atopic disease demonstrate poorer sleep than healthy children.5 Recent studies on the relationship between food allergies and sleep disorders have increased. Wang et al.6 reported a close relationship between food allergy and snoring in Chinese infants. A recent study reported that children with gastrointestinal (GI) food allergy were commonly associated with a wide range of extra-intestinal manifestations, such as poor sleep.7 In another study investigating sleep disorders in allergic and non-allergic children, eczema and food allergies were closely associated with sleep disorders.8
The presence of a child with food allergy in the family adversely affects the quality of life of the parents. As the number of children with allergies increases, quality of life is negatively affected both by the parent’s time for their own needs and in terms of family activities.9 When mothers and fathers were compared, mothers perceived their quality of life as worse and had higher anxiety levels.10
It is necessary to periodically evaluate children with food allergy and primary caregivers in terms of the need for psychosocial support. The purpose of this study was to compare sleep in young children with and without FA and their mothers. Additionally, the depressive symptomatology of the mothers was assessed. We hypothesized that compared with young children without FA, young children with FA would have poorer sleep patterns. We also aimed to investigate the sociodemographic and clinical correlated factors of sleep disturbances in these groups
Section snippets
Participants
Children between two and 10 years, followed up for FA for at least one month at the Pediatric Allergy and Gastroenterology Departments in our clinics, between June 2017 and February 2019 were enrolled. Diagnosis of FA was made for patients who fulfilled all of the following criteria: 1) food sIgE level ≥0.35 kU/L and/or a positive skin prick test with food (a wheal ≥3 mm compared with the negative control); 2) consistent and clear-cut history of the repeated symptoms associated with both
Sociodemographic data form
Characteristics of children (age, gender, comorbid medical disorder, duration of the food allergy, family history of atopy), sociodemographic characteristics of the family (family income, number of family members, education level of mother who the child was interviewed with) and existence of psychiatric disorder history in the family were assessed by a sociodemographic form that was developed by the authors.
Childhood sleep habits questionnaire (CSHQ)
The CSHQ11 is a retrospective, 45-item sleep-screening instrument designed for young
Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants
A total of 71 children with FA and 58 control children with a mean age of 3.34 ± 1.68 years were recruited to the study. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in term of the gender, age of the children, age of the mothers, number of children the family has, mental illness history in the family, family income and the education level of the mother (Table 1). The clinical and laboratory characteristics of the food allergy group are given in Table 2.
The CSHQ
Of the children with
Discussion
It has been reported that up to 40% of children experience sleep problems during childhood.18 When young children have sleep disruptions, parental sleep is also typically disrupted. Research has demonstrated that parents of children with chronic illnesses experience significant disruption to sleep and daytime functioning, resulting in increased maternal depressive symptoms.19, 20
Although the sample size was small, this is one of the first studies to examine sleep disorders both in children with
Conflict of interest
The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Acknowledgements
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. We thank Dr. Meral Bilgilisoy Filiz for assistance with statistical analysis.
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Cited by (8)
The experiences of mothers of children with food allergy: A qualitative study
2023, Journal of Pediatric NursingFactors affecting sleep quality of mothers of children with chronic illnesses
2022, Journal of Pediatric NursingCitation Excerpt :Examination of the total mean scores obtained from the scale indicated that while mothers of children with no illness indicated that they had poor sleep quality according to the cutoff score of the scale, this score was found to be significantly lower in mothers of children with chronic illnesses. The same is applicable to the study conducted by Filiz et al. (2020). Yılmaz et al. (2008) indicated that mothers of children with cystic fibrosis and mothers of children with asthma had lower PSQI scores compared to mothers of children with no illnesses: however, the mean PSQI score of the three groups was less than 5 (Yılmaz et al., 2008).
Evaluation of quality of life and sleep in family members of children with atopic dermatitis
2022, Pamukkale Medical Journal
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The study protocol was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Antalya Training and Research Hospital.