Asthma related quality of life in western Saudi subpopulation and its correlation to level of asthma control

Abstract

Asthma is a chronic health problem that encompasses the patient’s entire lifetime, and causes significant mental and social problems in addition to physical symptoms. It is; therefore, considerably important to evaluate the quality of life of the patients in addition to the symptoms in order to gather full information about the health status of the patients. Aim of the workThis study objective was to assess asthma related quality of life in a group of persistent asthmatic patients and its correlation to level of asthma control, and objective measure of pulmonary function (FEV1). Patients and methods30 patients with persist asthma according to GINA classification of asthma were entrolled in the study, assessment of asthma related quality of life was done by Juniper mini-AQLQ (1999), level of asthma control by SINA-ACT questionnaire Arabic version, FEV1 by vitalograph and Laboratory measurement of total IgE. Resultstotal AQLQ was more in males than females weakly correlated with age, ACT was significantly correlated with total AQLQ and three domains (activity, symptoms, environmental) while non significant correlation with emotional domain, no significant correlation between AQLQ and FEV1, total IgE, no significant difference between patients on omalizumab and patients not on the treatment regarding total AQLQ and its four domains except environmental domain, ACT or FEV1. ConclusionAsthma quality of life is strongly correlated to level asthma control rather than the objective measures of FEV1, so it complements the results of objective assessments. Asthma related quality of life questionnaire should be implemented in the routine assessment of persistent asthmatic patients.