Quality of life of the family of children with asthma is not related to asthma severity

The quality of life for the family is an important outcome of childhood asthma. The aim of the study was to describe the quality of life in families who have a child with asthma. The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Family Impact Module was completed by the parents of 527 children with asthma. The median overall score was 75.0 (interquartile range 63.9, 87.5). The following factors were independently associated with lower quality of life: additional difficulties such as anxiety and financial hardship (3.81 [2.45, 5.93]), waking with asthma symptoms one or more nights a week (odds ratio 2.53 [1.34, 4.75]), regular use of symptoms reliever medication (2.47 [1.57, 3.87]), and female gender (1.97 [1.27, 3.05]). Lower socioeconomic status of the family and exposure to molds at home doubled the odds for lower quality of life. Physician’s diagnosed asthma severity and control were associated with quality of life in univariate, but not multivariate analysis.

Conclusion: Multiple factors, several of which are not related to asthma, contribute to the family burden of having a child with asthma. Clinicians should be mindful of the impact of asthma on the child and the family, and consider exploring factors not directly related to childhood asthma.