Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar;42(1):84-91.
doi: 10.1002/npr2.12231. Epub 2022 Jan 28.

Relationship of food allergy with quality of life and sleep in psychiatric patients

Chiho Gomi  1   2   3 , Yuuki Yokota  2 , Sumiko Yoshida  4 , Hiroshi Kunugi  2   5
Affiliations

Relationship of food allergy with quality of life and sleep in psychiatric patients

Chiho Gomi et al. Neuropsychopharmacol Rep. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Aim: Few studies have examined the relationship between food allergy (FA) and psychiatric disorders. We aimed to examine the possible relationship of FA with quality of life (QOL) and sleep in adult patients with psychiatric disorders.

Methods: Of the 812 participants (451 females, mean age: 42.7 ± 11.3 years), 430 had schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder, 106 had depression, 124 had bipolar disorder, 40 had anxiety disorders, 38 had developmental disorders, and 11 had eating disorders; 63 were other cases. We documented FA and sleep disturbance via a questionnaire. QOL was assessed with the Medical Outcomes Study 8-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-8 Japanese version).

Results: There were 126 patients (15.5%) reporting FA. SF-8 physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores were both significantly lower among individuals with FA than those without. Moreover, PCS and MCS scores decreased as the number of allergens increased. Sleep disturbance was common among patients (76.0%). The proportions of individuals with sleep disturbance and nocturnal awakening were significantly higher in the group with FA, with the proportions increasing with higher number of allergens.

Conclusion: We obtained the first evidence that FA is associated with impaired QOL and sleep in psychiatric patients, which can be improved by avoiding exposure to food allergens.

Keywords: allergens; immunity; mental disorders; mood disorders; quality of life; schizophrenia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Physical component summary (PCS) and Mental component summary (MCS) scores by the presence or absence of food allergy. PCS and MCS were significantly higher in those with food allergies than in those without. Results are expressed as percentage of respondents. Box‐and‐whisker plot description: box center line: median; box upper end: upper quartile value; box lower end: lower quartile value; upper end of whisker: maximum value; lower end of whisker: minimum value. ◯: Outlier. P: statistical significance calculated by Mann‐Whitney U test
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Number of Allergens and Physical component summary (PCS) and Mental component summary (MCS). PCS and MCS decrease with the number of allergens increase. Results are expressed as percentage of respondents. Box‐and‐whisker plot description: box center line: median; box upper end: upper quartile value; box lower end: lower quartile value; upper end of whisker: maximum value; lower end of whisker: minimum value. ◯: Outlier. P: statistical significance calculated by Kruskal‐Wallis test
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. The World Health Organization . Depression and other common mental disorders. Global Health Estimates. Med Care. 2017;30:473–83. https://journals.lww.com/lww‐medicalcare/pages/default.aspx
    1. Patient survey; 2017‐Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. Available at [Accessed 2020 April 23]. https://www.e‐stat.go.jp/stat‐search/filespage=1&toukei=00450022&second=1
    1. Nwaru BI, Hickstein L, Panesar SS, Roberts G, Muraro A, Sheikh A. EAACI food allergy and anaphylaxis guidelines group. Prevalence of common food allergies in Europe: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Allergy. 2014;69(8):992–1007. 10.1111/all.12423 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gupta RS, Warren CM, Smith BM, et al. Prevalence and severity of food allergies among US adults. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(1):e185630. 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.5630 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Loh W, Tang MLK. The epidemiology of food allergy in the global context. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(9):2043. 10.3390/ijerph15092043 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types