Increasing Discussions On Early Peanut Introduction- A Quality Improvement Project

Abstract

RATIONALE: Research into Food Allergy Quality of Life (FAQLQ) has raised awareness of patient issues and has impacted provision of resources and policy. No auto-injectors are registered in Russia, which may result in anxiety. We examined 1) the performance of the FAQLQ measures and 2) associations between FAQLQ in children/teens and anxiety in parents. METHODS: FAQLQ (parent proxy-report, child/teen self-report) and Food Allergy Independent measures (FAIM) were translated and completed by patients (8-18 years) and/or their parents (0-12years). Parents completed the General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) measure. The data were collected in The Research and Clinical Institute for Pediatrics Moscow. Analysis included Cronbach's alpha, analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA), and linear regression (LR). RESULTS: N5142 completed FAQLQ and FAIM and N589parents (93% mothers) completed GAD. All FAQLQ had alpha > 0.94, and discriminated between number of allergies, number of foods avoided, FAIM and GAD scores (hp2 0.40 p<0.001). Relationship strength between GAD and FAQLQ increased according to age (p 50.004); with< 2 years (r50.4), 6 to 12 years (r50.5) and >13 years (r50.7). Eighteen percent had GAD score >10 indicating moderate to severe anxiety. In LR, GAD score predicted FAQLQ PF score (t52.7,p50.01), controlling for age, sex, number of allergies, reaction severity and recency. CONCLUSIONS: The FAQLQ questionnaires are valid and reliable for use in Russia. The findings will contribute to the development of online manual of normed scores for FAQLQ. The significant association found between general anxiety in parents and quality of life in children and teens has practice, screening and resource implications.