Assessing Risk of Food Insecurity Within Households of Children With Food Allergy

Our central hypothesis is that dietary limitations introduced by food allergy will contribute to increased food insecurity in households with food allergic children when compared to food insecure households without food allergic children.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Asthma; Allergic Rhinitis; Eosinophilic Esophagitis; Atopic Dermatitis; Food Allergy

Detailed Description

Specific Aim 1 To describe food insecurity in families of the pediatric allergy population, specifically comparing the prevalence of food insecurity rates between households of food allergic patients and households of allergic patients without food allergy.

Specific Aim 2 To examine health literacy in parents of patients in the pediatric allergy population, comparing food insecure patients with and without food allergy to food secure patients with food allergy.

Specific Aim 3 To examine quality of life in food allergic patients' households using the food allergy impact scale, comparing food allergic patients' households with food insecurity to food allergic patients' households without food insecurity.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 650

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Arkansas
    • Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, 72202
      • Arkansas Children's Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 1 year to 17 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Families with children who have allergy appointments at Arkansas Children's Hospital between 1-17 years of age. We will recruit 325 families with patients in the food allergy group and 325 families with patients in the without food allergy group.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parents whose child has an allergy appointment with the Allergy and Immunology Department at Arkansas Children's Hospital between 1-17 years of age with allergic disease

Exclusion Criteria:

• Parents whose child has an allergy appointment with the Allergy and Immunology Department at Arkansas Children's Hospital less than 1 years of age or 18 years of age and older will not be eligible to participate in this study. Children with immunodeficiency disease will be excluded.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Case-Control
• Time Perspectives: Prospective

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Presence of food insecurity within an atopic population	The primary outcome variable of interest is the presence of food insecurity (patients with Low Food Security or Very Low Food Security). A chi-square test of independence will be used to test the association between food insecurity and food allergy.	1.25 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Health Literacy Rate	A logistic regression analysis will be done to test the effect of food allergy and food insecurity on the health illiteracy rates after adjusting for confounding variables such as demographics. Appropriate contrasts for the interaction effect between food allergy and food insecurity will also be used to compare health literacy rates.	1.25 years

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Quality of life of families with food allergic members	The average quality of life score taken across all six items in the quality of life questionnaire will be the outcome variable of interest. The mean average quality of life score between the food secure households with food allergy and the food insecure households with food allergy will be compared between the two groups using an ANCOVA method.	1.25 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Stacie M Jones, MD, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences / Arkansas Children's Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: June 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): August 20, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 9, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 9, 2013
• First Posted (Estimate): July 12, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 15, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 11, 2018
• Last Verified: October 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Quality of life; Food insecurity; Health literacy
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Digestive System Diseases; Skin Diseases; Infections; Respiratory Tract Infections; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Immune System Diseases; Hypersensitivity, Immediate; Hematologic Diseases; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Gastroenteritis; Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases; Respiratory Hypersensitivity; Esophageal Diseases; Nose Diseases; Leukocyte Disorders; Eosinophilia; Hypersensitivity; Dermatitis; Rhinitis; Rhinitis, Allergic; Eosinophilic Esophagitis; Esophagitis; Food Hypersensitivity
• Other Study ID Numbers: 201920