Pitfalls in Respiratory Allergy Management: Alexithymia and Its Impact on Patient-Reported Outcomes

Baiardini, Ilaria; Braido, Fulvio; Ferraioli, Gianluca; Menoni, Stefania; Bruzzone, Marco; Conte, Maria Elisabetta; Gani, Federica; Ridolo, Erminia; Scordamaglia, A; Canonica, Giorgio Walter

doi:10.3109/02770903.2010.535883

Cited by 19 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…According to other studies recording a decrease in the rate of alexithymia from childhood to adolescence (Gatta et al, 2011) and from early to mid adolescence (Joukamaa et al, 2007), this may be considered consistent with the gradually improving cognitive skills relating to emotion processing. This is the first study, as far as we know, investigating alexithymia among food-allergic patients; results are in line with studies on other atopic diseases (Baiardini et al, 2011b;Barbosa et al, 2011;Feldman et al, 2002;Maniaci et al, 2006), confirming an association between allergy and affect regulation. Alexithymia is not only an internal state but also associated with health outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Alexithymia in food-allergic versus healthy children and young adults

et al. 2016

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Alexithymia is a multifaceted personality construct associated with several medical illnesses. However, no studies have focused on food allergy. We investigated alexithymia among food-allergic youths, compared to a matched healthy sample. A total of 220 participants aged 9-25 years were assessed using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children. Food-allergic patients reported higher levels of alexithymia compared to a matched healthy sample. Furthermore, an association between alexithymia and a clinical history of anaphylaxis was found among patients. Some possible hypotheses have been discussed considering physiological, psychological, developmental, and cognitive/behavioral factors.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Alexithymia in food-allergic versus healthy children and young adults

et al. 2016

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“…In a real-life study that includes a large sample of asthma patients, the prevalence of alexithymia was 20% compared to 5–13% in the general population, indicating that it is a common feature that characterizes almost 1 patient out of 5 with asthma [98]. Alexithymia did not correlate with disease severity, but it resulted in association with more severe disease experiences and outcomes.…”

Section: Reasons For Poor Asthma Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Failure in Asthma Control: Reasons and Consequences

2013

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Clinical research showed that asthma control is an achievable target. However, real-life observations suggest that a significant proportion of patients suffer from symptoms and report lifestyle limitations with a considerable burden on patient's quality of life. The achievement of asthma control is the result of the interaction among different variables concerning the disease pattern and patients' and physicians' knowledge and behaviour. The failure in asthma control can be considered as the result of the complex interaction among different variables, such as the role of guidelines diffusion and implementation, some disease-related factors (i.e., the presence of common comorbidities in asthma such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), sleep disturbances and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and rhinitis) or patient-related factors (i.e., adherence to treatment, alexithymia, and coping strategies). Asthma control may be reached through a tailored treatment plan taking into account the complexity of factors that contribute to achieve and maintain this objective.

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“…Alexithymia is a multifaceted personality construct described as ‘a lack of words to express emotions’ . Alexithymia is described on a continuum and normally distributed in the general population, where prevalence is 10–13% . Interest in alexithymia has increased considerably particularly within interdisciplinary research with numerous investigations in clinical research, cognitive psychology, neurobiology and psycho‐neuro‐endocrinology .…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The validity of the alexithymia construct and its association with several common psychiatric and medical illnesses are well documented . Alexithymia plays a role in influencing clinical outcomes and is associated with a lack of constructive coping strategies such as the ability to modulate emotional arousal, to properly express or suppress emotions, to gain and use social support (SS) or to cope with painful emotions , resulting in avoidant coping and negative affect. Avoidant coping strategies are associated with psychological distress in food allergy and can mediate the link between illness perceptions and outcome.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%