Impact of Asthma Control on Health Related Quality of Life of Affected Children and Their Caregivers

Asthma is a chronic disease that can negatively affect the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of children and their primary caregivers. Caregiver mental health and perception of HRQoL burden directly influences asthma control in children. Current studies have not compared the impairment of HRQoL of children and caregivers whose asthma is well-controlled (WC) versus not well-controlled (NWC) to healthy children (HC). Children between 5-17 years of age were stratified into three groups: WC (n=25), NWC (n=6), and HC (n=10). Caregivers completed Child Health Questionnaire Parent Form (CHQPF-28) constituting 14 concepts, combined to derive physical (PhS) and psychosocial (PsS) summary measures of HRQoL in children. They also completed the Pediatric Asthma Caregiver’s Quality of Life Questionnaire (PACQLQ) which evaluates activity limitations and emotional functioning of caregivers. Non-parametric tests were used for analysis of non-normally distributed data. Kruskal-Wallis test showed significant differences among the groups for PhS (p=0.002) and PsS (p=0.02). Pairwise comparisons showed no significant difference between HC and WC children, but higher psychosocial functioning and fewer physical limitations when compared to NWC. Wilcox rank test on PACQLQ indicated that caregivers of children with WC asthma reported superior emotional functioning and fewer activity limitations versus NWC (p =0.015). HRQoL is significantly higher in children with WC asthma when compared to NWC, supporting the parental perception that caring for children with WC asthma is similar to caring for HC. This finding adds further impetus for attaining optimal control of asthma in order to improve the well-being of these children and their families.