Factors associated with parental burden among parents of children with food allergies in China: a cross-sectional study

Objective This study aimed to investigate the factors associated with parental burden among parents of children with food allergies (FA) in China. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting The participants were recruited through the Internet and one child health centre of a tertiary hospital in Changsha, China. Participants A total of 346 parents of children with FA were recruited using a convenience sampling method. After excluding the invalid questionnaires, 330 questionnaires were included for the analysis. Outcome measures The data of general and disease-specific information of children with FA and their parents, as well as parental burden, social support and coping style of parents, were collected using a self-developed questionnaire and standard measurement tools with good psychometric properties. Univariate analysis and multivariate stepwise regression analysis were used to analyse the data. Results Financial affordability regarding their children's FA and parents' social support were key protective factors against parental burden (beta=-0.224, p<0.001 and beta=-0.226, p<0.001, respectively). This study also found that parents' working conditions, the number of highly suspected food allergens, the number of children's FA-affected systems and whether children took amino acid milk powder were the factors associated with parental burden. Conclusions Health professionals should pay more attention to parents who are not at work and whose children have more highly suspected food allergens and more FA-affected systems because these parents often have a higher parental burden. Furthermore, it is important to improve financial support for children's FA and social support for parents of children with FA to decrease their parental burden.