Sleep disturbances and affecting factors in young children with food allergy and their mothers

Objective: To examine sleep patterns and sleep disturbance of children with food allergy (FA) and their mothers.

Methods: The food allergy group included 71 children with mean age, 2.97±1.52 years, and 58 control children were recruited the study. Mothers of children completed the Childhood Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) and The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) in order to evaluate sleep disturbance in both children and themselves. Depressive symptomatology of mothers of children with or without food allergy was assessed with Beck-Depression Inventory II (BDI-II).

Results: The mean total scores of CSHQ was 49.33±7.93 (range=31-68) in the FA and 42.39±6.43 (range=30-62) in controls. The total CSHQ scores were significantly higher in children with FA than in controls (p=0.002). The total PSQI score was significantly higher in mothers of children with FA than in mothers of children without FA (7.09±3.11 vs 5.15±2.59, p<0.001) indicating that the mothers of children with FA had worse sleep quality. The mothers of children with FA had more depressive symptoms than mothers of children without FA. The mean total scores of BDI-II were 10.10±6.95 in mothers of children with FA and 7.78±6.64 in mothers of children without FA (p=0.005).

Conclusion: The presence of a food allergy in a child may be associated with a deterioration in sleep quality in children and mothers as well as increased depressive symptoms in mothers.