Knowledge about allergic diseases among parents of kindergarten children in Guangzhou city

Objective To investigate the knowledge level of allergic diseases among parents of kindergarten children in Guangzhou city and to provide references for the improvement in daily life management and treatment of the children with allergic disease.Methods A questionnaire survey was carried out among 2 010 parents of kindergarten children selected with random cluster sampling from 12 kindergartens in Guangzhou city from January to December,2013.Spearman correlation and descriptive statistical analysis were adopted in data analysis by using SPSS 17.0.Results Totally 1 889 eligible questionnaires were collected from 989(52.4%) parents of the boys and 900(47.6%) parents of the girls;the mean age of the parents' children was 4.6±1.1 years;and the valid response rate of the survey was 94%.Of the parents,44.7% reported having a little knowledge about the type and symptoms of allergic disease;64.8% expressed that they won't take their children to visit a doctor for mild allergy symptoms for consultation and treatment;8.7% did not know how to prevent the occurrence of allergic diseases;and only 26.1% were aware of desensitization therapy.The results of Spearman analyses revealed a statistically significant correlation between the parents' knowledge level of allergic diseases and the allergy prevention measure among their children(P <0.05).Conclusion The knowledge level of allergic disease is generally low among parents of kindergarten children in Guangzhou city and medical workers should pay more attention to health education on allergic disease among the public.