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Parental Knowledge about Allergies and Problems with an Elimination Diet in Children Aged 3 to 6 Years

Allergic diseases are highly prevalent, and they can exert a significant influence on the patients’ physical and mental well-being, thus affecting the quality of their lives and society as a whole. The aim of this study was to evaluate parental knowledge about allergens, allergy symptoms, and treatm...

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Autores principales: Kostecka, Malgorzata, Kostecka-Jarecka, Joanna, Kostecka, Julianna, Iłowiecka, Katarzyna, Kolasa, Katarzyna, Gutowska, Gabriela, Sawic, Magdalena
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689114/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36360421
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9111693
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author Kostecka, Malgorzata
Kostecka-Jarecka, Joanna
Kostecka, Julianna
Iłowiecka, Katarzyna
Kolasa, Katarzyna
Gutowska, Gabriela
Sawic, Magdalena
author_facet Kostecka, Malgorzata
Kostecka-Jarecka, Joanna
Kostecka, Julianna
Iłowiecka, Katarzyna
Kolasa, Katarzyna
Gutowska, Gabriela
Sawic, Magdalena
author_sort Kostecka, Malgorzata
collection PubMed
description Allergic diseases are highly prevalent, and they can exert a significant influence on the patients’ physical and mental well-being, thus affecting the quality of their lives and society as a whole. The aim of this study was to evaluate parental knowledge about allergens, allergy symptoms, and treatment of allergies, and to identify problems with adherence to an elimination diet and the underlying difficulties. Twelve kindergartens and the parents of 1350 preschoolers took part in the first stage of the study. In a screening trial, allergies were diagnosed in 197 children, and their parents participated in the second stage of the study. The child’s age at the onset of the first symptoms was significantly correlated with allergy type. Age was significantly correlated with selected symptoms of an allergic reaction, and skin allergies were more prevalent in younger children. Erythema, skin reddening, and urticaria occurred more frequently in children aged 3–4 years (OR 1.45; 95%CI 1.24–1.77, p < 0.05) and were diagnosed in skin tests (OR 1.36; 95%CI 1.22–1.59, p < 0.05). Allergies to numerous food items were associated with a long-term elimination diet (OR 1.89; 95%CI 1.33–2.19, p < 0.01), as well as problems with preparing safe meals, shopping for food, or dietary adherence when eating out. According to the respondents, lack of support from other family members and compliance with dietary restrictions in kindergartens and when eating out posed the greatest barriers to dietary adherence. Parents do not have sufficient knowledge about environmental allergens and effective strategies for coping with acute allergic reactions, including anaphylactic shock. Children with diagnosed food allergies should enjoy a similar quality of life to their healthy peers, which is why the parents should be educated about diet therapy, duration of treatment, and safe food substitutes.
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spelling pubmed-96891142022-11-25 Parental Knowledge about Allergies and Problems with an Elimination Diet in Children Aged 3 to 6 Years Kostecka, Malgorzata Kostecka-Jarecka, Joanna Kostecka, Julianna Iłowiecka, Katarzyna Kolasa, Katarzyna Gutowska, Gabriela Sawic, Magdalena Children (Basel) Article Allergic diseases are highly prevalent, and they can exert a significant influence on the patients’ physical and mental well-being, thus affecting the quality of their lives and society as a whole. The aim of this study was to evaluate parental knowledge about allergens, allergy symptoms, and treatment of allergies, and to identify problems with adherence to an elimination diet and the underlying difficulties. Twelve kindergartens and the parents of 1350 preschoolers took part in the first stage of the study. In a screening trial, allergies were diagnosed in 197 children, and their parents participated in the second stage of the study. The child’s age at the onset of the first symptoms was significantly correlated with allergy type. Age was significantly correlated with selected symptoms of an allergic reaction, and skin allergies were more prevalent in younger children. Erythema, skin reddening, and urticaria occurred more frequently in children aged 3–4 years (OR 1.45; 95%CI 1.24–1.77, p < 0.05) and were diagnosed in skin tests (OR 1.36; 95%CI 1.22–1.59, p < 0.05). Allergies to numerous food items were associated with a long-term elimination diet (OR 1.89; 95%CI 1.33–2.19, p < 0.01), as well as problems with preparing safe meals, shopping for food, or dietary adherence when eating out. According to the respondents, lack of support from other family members and compliance with dietary restrictions in kindergartens and when eating out posed the greatest barriers to dietary adherence. Parents do not have sufficient knowledge about environmental allergens and effective strategies for coping with acute allergic reactions, including anaphylactic shock. Children with diagnosed food allergies should enjoy a similar quality of life to their healthy peers, which is why the parents should be educated about diet therapy, duration of treatment, and safe food substitutes. MDPI 2022-11-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9689114/ /pubmed/36360421 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9111693 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kostecka, Malgorzata
Kostecka-Jarecka, Joanna
Kostecka, Julianna
Iłowiecka, Katarzyna
Kolasa, Katarzyna
Gutowska, Gabriela
Sawic, Magdalena
Parental Knowledge about Allergies and Problems with an Elimination Diet in Children Aged 3 to 6 Years
title Parental Knowledge about Allergies and Problems with an Elimination Diet in Children Aged 3 to 6 Years
title_full Parental Knowledge about Allergies and Problems with an Elimination Diet in Children Aged 3 to 6 Years
title_fullStr Parental Knowledge about Allergies and Problems with an Elimination Diet in Children Aged 3 to 6 Years
title_full_unstemmed Parental Knowledge about Allergies and Problems with an Elimination Diet in Children Aged 3 to 6 Years
title_short Parental Knowledge about Allergies and Problems with an Elimination Diet in Children Aged 3 to 6 Years
title_sort parental knowledge about allergies and problems with an elimination diet in children aged 3 to 6 years
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689114/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36360421
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9111693
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