Health-Related Quality of Life in Thai Children
with Allergic Respiratory Diseases
Paskorn Sritipsukho MD*,**,
Orapat Viriyaudomsir MD***
Affiliation :
* Center of Excellence in Applied Epidemiology, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand
** Allergy Division, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand
*** Prachonchi Hospital, Buriram, Thailand
Background : Childhood asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR) are major chronic respiratory diseases affecting health-related
quality of life (HRQOL). Few school-based studies have reported the HRQOL of individuals with asthma or AR.
Objective : The study measured HRQOL among primary school pupils with asthma, AR and both diseases combined in
Thailand.
Material and Method: Two thousand and eight school pupils, aged 6-9 years, from six primary schools were randomly
studied. The self-reported Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Core Scales (PedsQL) questionnaires were used to evaluate
pupils’ HRQOL in their classrooms. The parent-reported PedsQL questionnaires and the parent-reported International
Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) written questionnaire were sent to their parents to evaluate pupils’
HRQOL and identify asthma and AR respectively.
Results : One thousand nine hundred and twenty-four of 2,008 (95.8%) pupils completed the self-reported PedsQL
questionnaire and 1,789/2,008 (89.1%) parent-reported questionnaires were returned for analysis. By child self-reports,
asthmatic pupils with or without AR had significant impairment in all domains of PedsQL questionnaire (p≤0.049) compared
to healthy pupils. Pupils with combined asthma and AR had significantly lower summary (p = 0.015) and emotional
functioning mean scores (p = 0.001) than pupils with AR alone. By parent-reports, pupils with asthma alone, AR alone, and
combined diseases had significant impairment in emotional functioning (p≤0.047), compared to healthy pupils.
Conclusion : Allergic respiratory diseases significantly reduced HRQOL in Thai school pupils, especially for emotional
functioning. AR alone minimal impairs HRQOL while asthma with or without AR significantly reduce HRQOL in all domains.
Keywords : Asthma, Allergic rhinitis, Allergic respiratory disease, Pupils, Health-related quality of life, Pediatric Quality
of Life Inventory Core Scales
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