Assessment of quality of life in asthmatic Turkish children.

Our aim was to assess impairment in quality of life (QOL) in asthmatic children and to determine the influencing factors. The study group consisted of 305 outpatients with asthma, aged 7-17 years, who were undergoing regular checkups in our outpatient clinic. QOL was assessed using the Pediatric Asthma QOL Questionnaire (PAQLQ). Asthma severity, presence of allergic rhinitis, and steroid usage were strongly and negatively associated with the overall PAQLQ score (p = 0.038) in multivariate regression models. Sex, IgE levels, positive skin tests and smoking status demonstrated no statistically significant effects on the overall or three individual domain PAQLQ scores (p = 0.307, 0.137, 0.470, 0.353, respectively). Lung function measures were strongly correlated with each other (Spearman correlation of 0.77), but were not associated with QOL (p = 0.441). Fifty-one percent of the patients reported that asthma affected their lives significantly. This study captured the baseline QOL information about the pediatric asthmatic population and factors influencing QOL and will facilitate longitudinal monitoring.