Skip to ContentSkip to Navigation
About us Latest news News News articles

Quality of life of food allergic patients

03 December 2012

PhD ceremony: Ms. J.L. van der Velde, 11.00 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: Quality of life of food allergic patients

Promotor(s): prof. A.E.J. Dubois, prof. E.J. Duiverman

Faculty: Medical Sciences

Food allergy is a common disorder and affects about 6-8% of children and 3-4% of adults. Symptoms of food allergy may involve the skin, gastro-intestinal tract and respiratory tract. Food allergy may even cause shock, which can be fatal. The only proven therapy is to carefully avoid the causal food(s). Therefore, patients always need to take precautions to prevent allergen exposure and high levels of anxiety of an allergic reaction may exist. Consequently, these factors may influence their quality of life.

This thesis describes the importance, reliability and outcome of quality of life questionnaires for food allergic patients. It is important to measure the quality of life of food allergic patients, because it gives clinicians insight into the specific problems these patients are facing. Additionally, quality of life questionnaires are used to evaluate the impact of diagnostic or therapeutic interventions on quality of life. Finally, these measurements may help clinicians to improve the quality of life of food allergic patients. The current study illustrates that the previously developed quality of life questionnaires for food allergic patients (the FAQLQs) are reliable and relevant instruments. It was also shown that the quality of life of many food allergic patients improves following a double-blind placebo-controlled food challenge (the best test for diagnosing food allergy) and subsequent changes in management. Furthermore, children and their parents were found to report differently on the child’s quality of life. Based on our study, we recommended to include child and parent reports in clinical trials and clinical decision making.

Last modified:13 March 2020 01.01 a.m.
View this page in: Nederlands

More news

  • 27 August 2024

    UMCG gaat onderzoeksfaciliteiten beschikbaar stellen voor geneesmiddelenontwikkeling

    Om de beschikbaarheid en effectiviteit van geneesmiddelen in Nederland te verbeteren gaat het UMCG het bedrijf G² Solutions opzetten. Dit bedrijf moet ervoor gaan zorgen dat belangrijke technologische ontwikkelingen op het gebied van DNA sequencing...

  • 17 July 2024

    Veni-grants for ten researchers

    The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded a Veni grant of up to €320,000 each to ten researchers of the University of Groningen and the UMCG. The Veni grants are designed for outstanding researchers who have recently gained a PhD.

  • 16 July 2024

    Medicine still subjects to male bias

    Aranka Ballering studied the course of illness in people with common symptoms. One of the most striking findings to emerge from her research was that on average, women have a different – and less extensive – course of illness than men.