Baseline Scores On Food Allergy Quality Of Life Questionnaire (FAQLQ) And State/Trait Anxiety Inventory In Mothers Of Cow’s Milk Allergic Infants Recruited To A Randomised Controlled Trial Of Single Low Dose Challenges With Cow’s Milk.

The Food Allergy Quality of Life Parent Form (FAQLQ- PF) questionnaire has proven a valid and reliable measure of change in randomised control trials in food allergy management (RCT). Single dose challenges are a novel method of assessing low dose reactivity in food allergic children. We report the baseline scores on QOL and maternal anxiety questionnaires at randomisation in an ongoing RCT of single dose challenges in cow's milk allergic infants. FAQL-PF,the Food Allergy Independent Measure (FAIM) and the State/Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaires were used. Total STAI score (on a scale of 20 to 80) was categorised as severe anxiety ≥ 75th percentile; moderate anxiety 75th to 25th percentiles; and mild anxiety < 25th percentile. To date mothers (mean age 37, 3.2) of 20 infants (mean age months 7.4, 1.9) have completed all measures at enrolment. Mean scores for FAQLQ (3.0, 1.6) and FAIM (3.9, 1.6) were above norms for age. State anxiety was normally distributed (Shapiro-Wilk>0.05) and was positively associated with FAQLQ (r=0.4, p=0.04), FAIM (r=0.63, p=0.001), and Trait anxiety (r=0.66, p=0.001). The small standard deviationsand normal distributions on all measures suggest an homogenous sample. There were significant associations found between anxiety, expectation of adverse outcome if an accident occurs for child, and parentally perceived quality of life in infants at randomisation in an RCT of treating cows milk allergy in young infants.