Risk factors associated with health-related quality of life in pediatric asthma

Abstract

To evaluate the quality of life (QOL) of children with asthma and analyze the related factors. A total of 360 children diagnosed with asthma were enrolled. We conducted the pediatric asthma quality of life questionnaire (PAQLQ). The differences in clinical characteristics between the two groups were compared. Clinical characteristics were compared between high and low QOL. More female was observed in low QOL group (p = 0.013). Patients with higher income (p = 0.003) were shown with higher QOL. Female patients presented significantly lower values for activity limitation (p = 0.016) and emotional function (p = 0.016) as compared to male patients. For patients who have low income, the QOL scores for dimensions of activity limitation was significantly worse than those have higher income (p = 0.001). Univariable results showed that gender (p = 0.013) and income (p = 0.001) were factors associated with QOL in asthma children. However, multivariate analysis suggested that only gender (OR = 0.558, p = 0.008) and income (OR = 1.762, p < 0.001) were the independent factors that affected the QOL levels. In this study, we found that the QOL dimensions of pediatric asthma differed between various subpopulations. For patients with risk factors of poor QOL, target intervention is advised in order to increase QOL.

Keywords: Asthma; pediatric; quality of life; risk factors.

Figure 1.

The difference in quality of life in different dimensions: (a) female patients presented significantly lower values for activity limitation (4.3 ± 0.94 vs 4.55 ± 1.02, p = 0.016) and emotional function (5.38 ± 0.63 vs 5.54 ± 0.57, p = 0.016) and (b) for patients who have low income, the quality of life scores of activity limitation was significantly worse than others (4.08 ± 0.89 vs 4.42 ± 1.02 vs 4.62 ± 0.96, p = 0.001).