Original article: Quality of life in rhinoconjunctivitis assessed with generic and disease‐specific questionnaires

Abstract

Background: Illness as perceived by the allergic patient with asthma and/or rhinoconjunctivitis (RC) can be assessed by measurements of their health‐related quality of life (HRQL). For this purpose the RC Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) has gained general acceptance; however, as most allergic patients experience symptoms from multiple organs, disease‐specific HRQL measures may be deficient. This study compares a generic and a disease‐specific HRQL instrument in grass and/or mite‐allergic patients.Methods: Two hundred and forty‐eight patients with RC and 121 patients with both RC and asthma were studied. Questionnaire information was obtained about allergy‐related RQLQ and a generic 15‐dimensional instrument for measuring HRQL (15D). Doctors provided general and disease‐specific information to classify disease severity according to the global initiative for asthma and allergic rhinitis and its impact on asthma guidelines.Results: Rhinoconjunctivitis patients with persistent moderate‐to‐severe disease had an impaired quality of life on all items of RQLQ during allergen exposure. The 15D mean score was 0.98 on a day without allergy and 0.83 on a day with allergy (P < 0.001). The correlation between 15D and RQLQ was r = −0.42 on a day with allergy (P < 0.001). Only 15D scores showed statistically significant differences in HRQL between patients with and without asthma.Conclusion: During allergen exposure patients with RC experience a serious deterioration in HRQL measured with the disease‐specific RQLQ instrument and the generic 15D instrument. The 15D instrument seems to generate a more comprehensive view of the impact of allergen exposure on patient’s quality of life than RQLQ.