Quality of life in children with asthma compared to healthy children: a case-control study

Abstract

Objective

Asthma is a chronic condition characterized by episodic wheezing, cough, and shortness of breath resulting from airway hyperresponsiveness and inflammation. Over 300 million people are affected worldwide, and its prevalence is increasing by 50% every decade. Assessing the quality of life in children with asthma is fundamental, as consistently poor health-related quality of life is associated with poorly controlled asthma. This study is aimed to evaluate and compare factors associated with HRQOL between healthy controls and children with asthma.

Methods

In the current case-control study, 50 children aged 8–12 years with asthma (cases) enrolled at outpatient hospital clinics by a trained pediatric allergist/immunologist (A.P.) and matched with 50 healthy controls by age and sex. All enrolled subjects were interviewed utilizing the PedsQL questionnaire to assess health-related quality of life; also, patient demographics, including age, sex, and family income status, were obtained from a questionnaire.

Results

A total of 100 children comprising 62 males and 38 females with a mean age of 9.63 ± 1.38 years, participated in this study. The average score of children with asthma was 81.63 ± 9.38, and the average score for healthy participants was 89.58 ± 7.91. We found that asthma was associated with a significant drop in health-related quality of life in this sample.

Conclusions

The results indicated that the PedsQL score and its subscales, except social functioning, were significantly higher in children with asthma compared to healthy ones. Also, SABA use, nocturnal symptoms, and asthma severity are negatively related to the health-related quality of life.

Keywords:

• Asthma
• children
• quality of life

Author contributions

T.E., A.A., and M.Z. designed the study protocol. A.P. was the board-certified pediatric allergist and clinical immunologist who recruited the participants. T.E. was responsible for data collection. A.T. performed the statistical analysis and drafted the tables and figures. A.T. and Y.G. wrote the first draft of the manuscript and T.E., M.Z., A.A., and A.P. helped with the revision of the manuscript. All authors approved the conclusions of our study.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Ethics approval

This study was evaluated by the Research Ethics Committees of Arak University of Medical Sciences and Approved on 2022–05-15. Approval ID: IR.ARAKMU.REC.1401.007.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to Ethical restrictions that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported by the Arak University of medical sciences, Arak, Iran, Islamic Republic Of. ID: 6629.