Quality of life in at-risk school-aged children with asthma

Introduction Asthma is the most common chronic condition of childhood. Urban, minority children from families of lower socioeconomic status have disproportionately higher rates of asthma and worse outcomes. We investigated the association between the presence of asthma and asthma severity among American, urban, minority children and reported quality of life (QOL) of children and their families. Methods We performed a prospective, cross-sectional study comparing QOL of urban, minority elementary school-age children with and without asthma. A convenience sample of children was enrolled from the pediatric emergency department (ED) and a specialized asthma clinic, at a large urban children's hospital. We measured child and parent QOL using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Version 4 (PEDSQL4), and evaluated associations with asthma, parental educational attainment, and frequency of ED visits. Results We enrolled 66 children, 76% were African American, and 61% were female. Overall child QOL was higher for those without asthma (p = 0.017,d = 0.59). Children with asthma also visited the ED almost twice as frequently (t[64] = -3.505,p < 0.001,d = 0.8), and parents of children with asthma reported a lower overall QOL (p = 0.04,d = 0.53) than those without asthma. Among children with asthma, a higher overall child QOL was associated with decreased asthma severity, more ED visits, and higher parental educational attainment. Conclusions Urban, minority elementary school-age children with asthma report a lower QOL than those children without asthma, and decreased asthma severity was associated with higher QOL.