Initial updosing phase of oral immunotherapy improves quality of life and psychological burden in parents of children with food allergy.

Background: Oral immunotherapy (OIT) can impose psychological burdens on patients and their parents due to the necessary preparations and repeated adverse reactions. Objective: To investigate changes in quality of life (QoL) and psychological burden in parents of children receiving OIT for food allergy (FA). Methods: Children aged 3-13 years with FA were enrolled. Parents were asked tojill out the Korean versions of the Food Allergy Quality of L(fe-Parental Burden (FAQL-PB). the Korean versions Of the Food Allergy Quality of Life-Parental Form (K-FAQLQPF), the Korean versions of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (K-BAI), and the Korean version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depression before OIT (Tl), after 2 months of updosing (T2), and after the end of the updosingphase (T3). Results: A total Of 111 parents were enrolled. The total FAQL-PB scores were decreased at TZ and T3 compared with those at Tl Call p < 0.001). Greater improvement in the total FAQL-PB score at T2 was noted in parents with a higher parental burden (FAQL-PB score 2 74 points) at baseline than in those with a lower parental burden (p= 0.001). Among the K-FAQLQ-PF domains, "food anxiety" scores were decreased at TZ and T3 compared with those at Tl (p = 0.049 and p = 0.030, respectively), whereas there was no change in "socialand dietary limitation" and "emotional impact" scores between Tl and T2 and between Tl and T3. However, no differences were observed in K-BAI and PHQ-9 scores between Tl and TZ and between Tl and T3. Conclusion: Our results suggest that OfT improves parental burden and QoL in parents of children with FA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]