What Is Life Like For Teens With Allergies?

Main Category: Allergy
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 19 Mar 2008 - 2:00 PST

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A study into teenagers with food allergies will investigate what life is like for them in an attempt to improve their quality of life and curb the number of allergy-related deaths.

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth have created a quality of life questionnaire which asks teenagers what it is like for them to live with a food allergy. They are inviting young people with food allergies to come forward to take part in the study.

A previous UK study which examined all deaths from food-related allergies between 1992-2001 suggested that 35 per cent of deaths occurred in youngsters aged from 10-19.

Children aged 10-14 years accounted for 10 per cent of food allergy deaths and those aged 15-19 accounted for 25 per cent.

Heather Mackenzie, from the University's School of Health Sciences and Social Work said: "Although deaths from food allergy are rare, teenagers are overrepresented in these figures. This indicates that they find food allergies the most difficult to deal with."

In order to develop a draft questionnaire she has interviewed youngsters and discovered that their attitudes to food allergies vary and that the severity of the condition doesn't always dictate the way they feel about it and the way they manage it. She said:

"Some teenagers have relatively mild food hypersensitivity but it has a drastic affect on their quality of life, and vice versa. Teenagers are especially vulnerable because they are learning to take responsibility for their food allergy, which is challenging in itself, whilst also trying to be a normal teenager. Those with serious allergies carry around pre-loaded injection kits containing adrenaline and some see it as a nuisance but it's vital that they understand that it can save their lives and that thousands of others are in the same boat."

The aim of the new study is to provide doctors and other healthcare professionals with a tool to assess teenagers' quality of life by finding out how they feel about their allergy. It will help doctors give them advice on how to manage their allergy and sources of further help.

Mackenzie says she wants more volunteers to complete the questionnaire in order to ensure that it accurately reflects teenagers' concerns. She wants to hear from teenagers who would like to help people to understand more about what living with a food allergy is like for them.

The Anaphylaxis Campaign, a national charity for people with potentially life-threatening allergies (www.anaphylaxis.org.uk), will be helping the study by sending questionnaires to some of its teenage members.

David Reading, director of the Anaphylaxis Campaign, said: "Food allergy can occasionally be serious, but we are convinced that teenagers who are affected can learn how to protect themselves. We would hope that this study will lead to a greater understanding of the problem that allergic teenagers face and better medical advice for them."

Young people aged 13-18 who would like to take part can go to www.port.ac.uk/foodallergysurvey or contact Heather Mackenzie on 023 9284 4441 or heather.mackenzie@port.ac.uk. They will be asked to complete a short questionnaire about how having food allergies affects their life and will be entered into a prize draw to win an iPod.

For more information visit the following link.

Food allergies affect approximately 2.3% of teenagers and approximately 1.4-1.8% of the UK adult population as a whole

The most common allergies are to peanuts and other nuts and they frequently severe but other foods which can be triggers include egg, milk, fish, shellfish, soya, sesame and wheat.

Any allergic reaction, including the most extreme form, anaphylactic shock, occurs because the body's immune system reacts inappropriately in response to the presence of a substance that it wrongly perceives as a threat.

From 1992 - 2002 the UK the youngest person to die from a fatal reaction to peanut was 13 years old and the median age was 21 years.

6 children aged between 10-14 years died in the years between 1992-2001 in the UK and 15 teenagers aged 15-19 years died (25%).

Symptoms of food related allergies include

- generalised flushing of the skin
- nettle rash (hives) anywhere on the body
- abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting
- swollen lips
- anaphylaxis
- sense of impending doom
- swelling of throat and mouth
- difficulty in swallowing or speaking
- alterations in heart rate
- severe asthma
- sudden feeling of weakness (drop in blood pressure)
- collapse and unconsciousness

University of Portsmouth
http://www.port.ac.uk