Abstract:
Objective To identify and analysis the factors associated with abnormal socio-emotional development among children aged 12 - 24 months with food allergy, so as to provide evidence for mental health prevention and treatment for them.
Methods 122 children aged 12 - 24 months with food allergy who visited allergy clinic at a tertiary Maternity and Child Health Hospital from Jan 2021 to Jan 2022 were recruited as study subjects. Based on the scores of 19 factors from Chinese Infant and Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (CITSEA) for children aged 12 - 36 months, CITSEA and questionnaire about medical history were used to identify children with one or more social emotional abnormalities as study group, while children without social emotional abnormalities were assigned to the control group. Factors associated with children's social emotional development were analyzed.
Results There were 80 children (65.57%) in the study group with one or more abnormal social emotional factors, and 42 children (34.43%) in the control group without normal social emotional factors. The top 3 abnormal factors were diet (36.89%, 45/122), sleep (36.07%, 44/122) and negative emotion (34.43%, 42/122) among children with food allergy. Univariate analysis showed that breastfeeding duration, attitude toward supplementing with complementary food, Cow's Milk Related Symptom Score (CoMiSS), mother's current anxiety status, and number of types of food allergies were different between study and control group (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated that mother's anxiety status and number of types of allergenic foods were risk factors (OR = 12.933, 95% CI: 3.032 - 55.165; OR = 15.282, 95% CI: 3.692 - 63.261, respectively), while breastfeeding > 6 months was a protective factor (OR = 0.133, 95% CI: 0.028 - 0.626) for children's socio-emotional development.
Conclusion Abnormal socio-emotional development among children with food allergy is mainly manifested in eating problems, sleep problems and negative emotions. Mother's anxiety status, number of types of allergenic foods and breastfeeding duration could affect children's socio-emotional development.