Evaluation of the quality of life of children with celiac disease and their parents: a case-control study.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the quality of life (QoL) of children with CD and of their parents and to compare it with that of children without CD and of their parents.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted to evaluate the quality of life of children (5-12 years) with CD and one of their parents, compared to the QoL of children without CD (and their parents as their caregivers ). The QoL was assessed by applying the following questionnaires: AUQUEI (children) and WHOQOL-BREF (parents).

Results: QoL was evaluated in 33 children with CD, 63 children without CD, and of their respective parents as their parent caregivers (96 adults). QoL total scores were similar between the groups of children with and without CD. However, in the Leisure dimension, the scores of children with CD were significantly lower than those of the controls (P = 0.029). Similarly, when assessing the QoL of the parents, we found scores significantly lower in the social dimension (P = 0.0196) for parents of children with CD compared to parents of children without CD. Family income presented an impact on the QoL in adults, but did not affect children. In CD group, children of mothers who had lower educational levels presented better scores in the function dimension, regarding self-care and autonomy.

Conclusions: There is an impairment of the QoL of children with CD and of their parents, with regard to social life, particularly in the leisure (children) and social (adults) dimensions.