Evaluation of sleep quality of mothers of children diagnosed with food allergy

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of the study was to investigate the sleep quality among mothers of food-allergic children.
METHODS: The universe of the case–control study contains the mothers of children with food allergy who came to the pediatric allergy and immunology out-patient clinic for the case group. The control group was the mothers of children who applied to the pediatrics outpatient clinic without a diagnosis of food allergy and other chronic diseases. Within the scope of the study, a face-to-face questionnaire and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used for both the control group and the case group. Apart from PSQI, mothers’ age and self-assessments of quality of life were also evaluated in the study. The mothers’ quality of life was evaluated as self-assessment, scoring their general quality of life from 1 to 10 with a single question.
RESULTS: In the study, the mother of 55 children having food allergy diagnosis was the case group; mothers of 55 children with no diagnosis of food allergy were considered the control group. The case and control groups were statistically similar in terms of gender, age, and maternal age (p>0.05). The overall quality of life median value of the control group was higher (8.0 [6.0–9.0], 5.0 [1.0–8.0], respectively) (p<0.001). Except for the subdimensions of subjective sleep quality and use of sleeping pills, all of the PSQI scores and total PSQI scores were higher in the case group than in the control group. In other words, the sleep quality of the case group was significantly worse (p<0.001).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The life and sleep quality of mothers may be adversely affected while coping with the children’s diseases as caregivers. Interventions with psychiatrists should be planned if there is a need.