A total of 1,157 participants were involved in the final psychometric analysis, which included correlational analysis with other anxiety and depression self-report measures and mean score comparison with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). This study aims to clarify the clinical utility of the BAI as a screening tool for anxiety disorders according to DSM-IV criteria, based on blind recruitment and diagnostic interviews of both clinical and non-clinical participants in the Korean population. Clinicians must be aware of the association between FA and anxiety, understand their role in recognizing maladaptive anxiety and encouraging to seek psychological support when needed.ĭespite the prominent use of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) in primary healthcare systems, few studies have confirmed its diagnostic utility and psychometric properties in non-Western countries. Rather, high levels of anxiety have been demonstrated counterproductive and related to maladaptive coping.įurther research is needed to elucidate the association between FA and anxiety, especially to understand biopsychosocial directions of the underlying mechanisms and to build proper, effective, standardized protocols of intervention.

However, some data reported that increased anxiety did not improve adherence. Some anxiety - short lived and related to key events - is to be expected and may even be helpful if it sustains allergens avoidance and preparedness to emergency. The relationship between FA and anxiety is attributed to FA-specific fears and anxiety, rather than a general propensity towards anxiety. Clinical implications for disease management, various manifestations in different target groups, proper interventions, possible explanations on the nature of the association between FA and anxiety have been discussed, as well as limitations and further research directions. This review aimed to offer a comprehensive overview of literature data on FA and anxiety of the last two decades.Ī review of the medical and psychological literature from the year 2000 (Medline PubMed and PsycINFO) was done using the keywords 'anxiety' and 'food allergy'. Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent in patients with chronic disease, but remain undertreated despite significant negative consequences on patient health. Several unique features specific to FA elicit high levels of emotional distress and anxiety in patients and caregivers, the first among all the possibility of a life-threatening reaction. With this approach, anxiety becomes a syndrome with both subjective and somatic components, and which can accompany diverse diseases.įood allergy (FA) is recognized as a growing public health burden affecting 5 to 10% of children worldwide. At the beginning of the 19th century, Landré-Beauvais (1813) defined “anxieté” as “a certain malaise, restlessness, excessive agitation” suggesting that these states may accompany “acute” and “chronic” diseases. On the other hand, the “objective” symptoms of anxiety (also called “somatic” and later on “anxiety-equivalents”) include abdominal pain, nausea, vertigo, dizziness, palpitations, dry mouth, hot flushes, hyperventilation, breathlessness, headache, restless legs, and other bodily experiences sometimes indistinguishable from complaints caused by physical disease. those felt as “psychological” experiences) include fear, emotional worries, feelings of terror, depersonalisation etc., and occasionally mental acts such as obsession-like thoughts concerning the safety of others, fear of dying etc. The symptoms of “anxiety” are listed under two headings.

Normal fear vs pathological fear