The BELANA questionnaire measures the health economic burdens of food allergy and intolerance in multinational settings

Background The Health economic burdens of patients with food allergies or intolerance and their Health Related Quality of Life (HR-QoL) are unknown in Luxembourg and most other countries. Within the Luxembourg MENSSANA project, a new approach has been defined to evaluate health economic effects in a multinational setting. Methods The BELANA questionnaire (Burdens and Expenses of Living as Adult with Nutrition based Allergy or Intolerance) has been developed to measure the temporal and financial burdens from the patient’s perspective. BELANA includes possible temporal losses (disability days, reduction in productivity, hospitalizations) as well as direct costs (additional costs for food purchases). For the complementary measurement of Health Related Quality of Life (HR-QoL), ac ombined appliance of the disease-specific FAQLQ-AF (Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire - Adult Form) and the generic SF-12v1 has been chosen. BELANA avoids questions, already included in the standard HR-QoL questionnaires. Results