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Parental perceptions in egg allergy: does egg challenge make a difference?
Andrew Stewart Kemp1, Clare Wendy Allen, Dianne Elisabeth Campbell
1Department of Allergy and Immunology, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia. andrewk5@chw.edu.au
Insights
An oral egg challenge in children with egg sensitization significantly reduced parental concerns about their child's allergy. Food challenges provided greater certainty, improving parental expectations regardless of the challenge outcome.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
- Clinical Psychology
- Food Hypersensitivity Research
Background:
- Parental perceptions significantly influence management of childhood food allergies.
- Egg sensitization is common, often leading to parental anxiety and lifestyle adjustments.
- Lack of definitive diagnostic tools can prolong parental uncertainty regarding food allergies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the impact of an oral egg challenge on parental perceptions of their child's egg allergy.
- To compare parental views between children who underwent a positive, negative, or no egg challenge.
- To identify specific areas of parental concern affected by the egg challenge procedure.
Main Methods:
- A questionnaire assessed parental perceptions of egg allergy in 167 egg-sensitized children.
- Parents' responses were compared based on whether their child had a positive (n=27), negative (n=57), or no (n=83) oral egg challenge.
- Statistical analysis identified significant differences in parental perceptions between groups.
Main Results:
- Oral egg challenges significantly reduced parental concerns across multiple parameters, including lifestyle impact and perceived severity.
- Parents of children who underwent an egg challenge reported less stress and fewer concerns about out-of-home care.
- Expectations for future inconvenience and the child being treated differently were significantly lower in parents whose children had undergone a challenge.
Conclusions:
- Performing an oral egg challenge in sensitized children is associated with reduced adverse parental concerns.
- Food challenges provide greater certainty, positively impacting parental expectations irrespective of the challenge outcome.
- This study highlights the psychological benefit of definitive food challenges in managing childhood food allergies.
Abstract:
The aim of the study was to determine the effect of an oral egg challenge in egg sensitized children on parental perceptions relating to their child's allergy. A questionnaire was completed by parents for 167 children attending a tertiary paediatric clinic with egg sensitization. The questionnaires included 10 questions concerning parental perceptions of their child's egg allergy. Parental perceptions of those children who had not had an egg challenge (n = 83) were compared with those whose children had a positive (n = 27) and those with a negative (n = 57) egg challenge. A significant difference (p = < or =0.02) was observed between challenge positive(CP) and challenge negative (CN) subjects in reported changes to lifestyle and the fact that more parents in the CN group expected little or no future inconvenience for the child. The responses of parents whose child had undergone an egg challenge differed significantly (p = < or =0.005) from those not challenged with a significant reduction in the following parameters; the effect on out-of-home care arrangements, the perception of being more severe as compared to other common childhood illnesses, whether they found egg allergy to be moderately or very stressful, whether their lifestyle was changed, the expectation of little or no future discomfort for the child and whether others treated the child differently. The performance of an egg challenge was associated with reduced adverse parental concerns. For 6/10 parameters, expectations concerning egg allergy in children who had been challenged were significantly better than those who had never been challenged irrespective of the challenge outcome. The greater certainty provided by the performance of a food challenge may be a positive outcome in both CP and CN children.
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