Assessment of Quality of Life among asthmatic children and adolescents on Follow-up at St Paul’s Hospital Millenium Medical College

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction– Asthma is one of the most common chronic inflammatory disorders of the lower respiratory tract in children, which significantly impacts the patient’s QoL. The assessment of the quality of life (QoL) in asthmatic children and adolescents is of significant importance as it provides a comprehensive evaluation of the physical, emotional, and social aspects of their well-being. Objectives– to assess the Quality of Life in asthmatic children and adolescents in SPHMMCPulmonology follow-up clinic. Methodology– Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 01,– October 29, 2023. A standard pretested and structured questionnaire containing socio-demographic factors, clinical parameters, and Quality of Life assessment questions was used for data collection. Asthma severity and control were assessed based on GINA 2023 guidelines and QoL was assessed based on PAQLQ. The collected data was coded and checked for completeness, entered into epi-info version 7.0, and exported to SPSS version 26.0 for analysis. Descriptive statistics, Bivariate and Multivariate binary logistic regression were performed. Result– The study enrolled 137 patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Overall Quality of life was affected in 32.9% of asthmatic children, of which 2.2% had severe impairment. The most affected domain was physical activity (32.8%) followed by the symptom domain (32.1%). There was significant association between poor asthma control (p=0.005), moderate or severe asthma (p=0.05), and asthma duration of 6-12 months (p=0.001), and affected Quality of Life. III Conclusion- The results of this study showed that in children and adolescents, with uncontrolled asthma, disease severity, and asthma duration of 6-12 months were associated with poor QoL. Evaluating the Quality of Life for children with asthma should be a routine part of their care and based on this study, emphasizing aiming for good asthma control will significantly improve QoL. Keywords– Asthma, Asthmatic children, Quality of Life, SPHMMC